Half Life
by Blizrun
Summary: Okay people quiet please, quiet! Now then, this is a novelization of Half Life. The Administrator has informed me that it's now required reading for all Black Mesa Pesonnel.
1. Black Mesa Inbound

_Disclaimer: Half Life belongs to Valve Software._

            Doctor Gordon Freeman slept soundly under the covers of his bed. On his nightstand to the left of his bed a pair of glasses laid on top of a book entitled "The Truth about Aliens" while an electronic clock counted the seconds. Gordon stirred in his sleep, turned onto his right side, and opened his eyes. For a moment, Gordon just laid there blinking. He yawned and sat up. "Ugh, what time is it?" He reached for his glasses and set them upon his head. When he looked at the clock, his heart nearly stopped.

            It read 8:32 A.M. "Oh shit, I'm late AGAIN!" Tossing the covers off his bed, Gordon quickly dashed into his bathroom. Pausing only a moment to take off his boxers, he hopped into his shower and turned the water on. 'Keller's going to have my ASS today!  I've only been working here two weeks, got elected "employee of the month", and STILL can't wake up on time yet!'

            Gordon considered himself to be very lucky to be working at the Black Mesa Research Facility. His former professor from MIT, Dr. Kliener, had recommended him for employment. Not only that, but he was also given a private dorm, something that most of the other employees that had to live in Black Mesa didn't have. Gordon finished washing his body and immediately began to dry himself off.

            'I don't even have the time for breakfast. Dr. Green and Dr. Cross are supposed to assist me in the experiment on that new sample.' As soon as he was dry, Gordon ran a comb through his hair a few times before rushing back into his room to change. He flicked on the light switch and rummaged around in his drawers for all his clothes. A few minutes later, he was dressed. He started for the door but stopped short and smacked himself in the head. "My ID card…"

            He rushed back to his nightstand to retrieve the lone item before rushing out. Gordon found the plastic card hidden underneath his German dictionary and clipped it onto his breast pocket. As he turned he saw his unmade bed, sighed and rolled his eyes. 'May as well. If I don't then I'll get into trouble for not keeping my dorm clean.' Gordon quickly grabbed the corner of his comforter and sheets and pulled them up to where they met his pillow. Swiftly tucking them under the mattress, he hurriedly went through a mental checklist. At last he was dressed and ready for work.

            Gordon flung open his door and ran out, nearly colliding with a young intern by the name of Amy Parker.

"Hey, watch where you're going Gordon!"

"Sorry Amy, I'm in danger of losing my job!" He called back as he ran down the hallway. The young woman sighed and rolled her eyes. Gordon continued running down the corridor (nearly colliding into a few more of his colleagues) until he reached the guard station outside of the tram entrance. The guard on duty hung up his phone and jumped in surprise at the sight of Gordon.

"Jesus Mr. Freeman, you scared the daylights out of me!"

"Yeah yeah, sorry about that, just call the tram and let me out, will you? I'm supposed to have been at the lab…' He glanced at the watch on his left wrist. "…six minutes ago."

"Just give me a sec." The guard started punching in the access code. "It's a good thing you got up. I just received a call from Dr. Keller to get your lazy ass out of bed and haul it to Sector C."

            The computer beeped and flashed an 'access granted' message across the station computer and the double doors began to open up.

"There you go Mr. Freeman. The tram will be there any minute but I suggest you don't waste anytime." Gordon just waived in thanks as he rushed out to the platform. The guard sighed and rolled his eyes. 'How the hell did that guy ever get to work here?'

            Gordon got up to edge of the platform just as the tram pulled up. He had to wait a minute for the door to slide open but as soon as it did, he stepped in and pressed the activate button to the right of the door. The door slid back closed and the tram began its journey to the Level 3 dormitories platform. Instead of the usual tram voice -which Dr. Cross volunteered to supply- the facility's computerized voice came on. "Attention. All repair crews report to the central computer station and Sector G Hydro Electric main power supply."

            Gordon sighed and his shoulders slumped. 'Great. Now I'm going to run into traffic with all the people heading to Sector G.' His legs started to ache due to the demand that had been placed upon them so early in the morning. Gordon yawned and sat down in the seat. His eyes half closed and he began to doze off. He tried to fight it but it was no use. His body was still used to being asleep at this time and had not switched over to the Mountain Time zone.

            He tried one last time to fight sleep off, but Gordon lost and finally succumbed to the dream land. Several minutes later a finger began to poke at his arm. He mumbled and moved away but fell over and slammed onto the seat. "Ah shit!" Gordon swore as he shot back up and grabbed his now aching head. After the throbbing died down a few moments later he looked up to see the guard on duty standing over him.

"Sorry Mr. Freeman, but I was told to make sure you got down to the lab ASAP." Gordon sighed and stood up.

"You don't have to apologize. You were just doing your job."

            The guy was visibly relieved. One of the first things that Gordon learned was that the security guards were treated like shit by most of the science team. After being something of a target for practical jokes during his freshman college years by the more muscular ones at MIT, the security force had Gordon's sympathy.

            Exchanging smiles, the pair exited the tram. The guard went to his station and started punching in the clearance code.

"So what's exactly going down in Sector C today Mr. Freeman? I overheard members of the science team having an argument over some stuff. Didn't understand most of it."

"Sorry, but that stuff's level three clearance. No offense but you only have level two.

"S'alright, none taken."

            The last character was inputted and the double doors swished open. Almost immediately a gaggle of orange clad mechanics came waltzing though the doorway, most with a bag full of tools slung over their shoulder. They were too busy grumbling and talking amongst themselves to notice Gordon slip through their ranks toward the next platform he had to get to.

            The hallways between the platforms were mostly uniform in design; tiled ceiling, tiled floor, occasional office of some kind or security post. In fact, most of Black Mesa looked alike. Well, that couldn't be entirely true as Gordon has never been that far into the facility. In fact, the people who had access to every area of the place could be counted on a single hand. They were the heads of both the science and security divisions as well as the administrator himself.

            Gordon never had the opportunity to meet any of them, though from what he garnered from the rest of the personnel, the administrator was a real pain in the ass who didn't take advice. Ever. As for the other two, the head of the Black Mesa Science Team was some guy in his seventies while the chief of the Black Mesa Security Force was ex-military and (as it was rumored) a special op during Desert Storm.

            However Gordon cared for none of this as he reached the tram control station. The guard posted there was nowhere to be seen and the operation controls were right in front of Gordon. Whistling a little tune that he couldn't remember the source of, he walked right up to the controls and called up the tram that would take him to Sector C.

"You're fifteen minutes late Gordon."    

            The scientist nearly jumped out of his shoes at the sound of the voice. He whipped around to see who it was and then proceeded to sigh in relief. It was Marc Laidlaw, one of Gordon's few friends in Black Mesa. They had first met when a mutual acquaintance had invited the two of them to a poker game a week ago.

"Damn Marc, you scared me half to death!" The blue clad guard smiled and leaned against the metal doorframe.

"Then what are you now? Half life?" Gordon couldn't help but laugh at the joke.

"Very funny Marc. Hey, I thought you were stationed over by Sector A?"

"Well, it seems that the damn computers are screwing up today and I got reassigned here temporarily."

"Yeah, I know. I heard the VOX system on the tram on the way over here call the repair crews to Sector G and the central computer station."

            Gordon crossed his arms and leaned on the tram display unit. Glancing at it, the monitor showed some tram coming into the facility from the topside dormitories. 'Lucky bastards. They get to see the sun more often than the rest of us.' Although Gordon had to admit that those people usually got assigned to the lower security areas and thus, received less pay than him.

            Another screen showed his tram pulling into view just as the corresponding notification light blinked on.

"Well, my tram's going to be here in a minute. I'll see you later Marc."

"Yeah, see ya."

            Gordon hadn't even taken one step out the room when Marc called to him.

"Hey Gordon." The scientist stopped and looked behind.

"Yeah?"

"We're still on for poker Tuesday night, right?"

"Last I checked we still are."

"Okay, just wanted to make sure."

            Gordon waved once and walked on down the hallway. He saw a few of his colleagues standing to the side chatting amongst themselves. As Gordon passed by he picked up on their conversation.

"… and for some reason, the topside communications dish was disabled."

"Why the hell would anyone want to do that?"

"Only God knows."

            A troubled expression appeared on Gordon's face. It was a good question the guy had asked. Why would someone do that? That effectively cut Black Mesa off from the rest of the world. Maybe they were doing some kind of maintenance on the system. There were probably many plausible answers to it and right now, Gordon hadn't the time to ponder them.

            Arriving at the platform, he went down a small flight of stairs and emerged onto the steel construct itself. As he drew near the edge another tram passed by, its single passenger a security guard sans helmet and vest. Gordon halted a foot from the edge and calmly waited for his tram to arrive. And a few moments later it did just that.          

            The door slid out of its recess and to the side. Gordon stepped inside and stood in the middle of the transport as he waited for the tram ahead of him to depart. Apparently the guard had been going to the Area 3 security station. A few moments later the path was clear and Gordon's tram began its journey.

"Good morning and welcome to the Black Mesa Transit System. This automated train is provided for the security and convenience of the Black Mesa Research Facility personnel."

            As soon as the message stopped playing Gordon heard banging and glanced to his left. The guard from before was seemingly stuck on the entrance platform and the door leading in shut tight. Gripping his standard issue flashlight in his left land, the guard turned around and pointed it in Gordon's direction. For a brief moment, the two's eyes met each other.

            Time seemed to halt as a strange feeling went down Gordon's back. A strange sort of connection was made between the two men, like they were old friends meeting for the first time in ages. Or perhaps it was the kind of connection made by two people seeing a normally unseen quality in each other. And as sudden as it had stopped, time resumed. Gordon faced forward while the guard resumed his pounding on the door.

            Maybe it was the strange occurrence or the fact that he was still tired but Gordon sat down in the seat next to him and closed his eyes. The incessant chatter of the overhead speakers prevented him from catching some last minute sleep so he just zoned out.

            While in that state, his mind drifted back to his old home in Austria. Wasn't all that big but it didn't cost him all that much in monthly rent. Soon after he got out of MIT, he accepted a position as a lecturer at the University of Innsbruck. The pay was decent but nothing compared to what he got in Black Mesa. His mind wandered around a little bit more, settling at last on the phone call that changed his life.

            Gordon was working on the lectures of the next few days when the phone on his desk rang. At first he was annoyed because specific instructions had been given NOT to disturb him during the evening hours. But when the ringing failed to stop, he caved in and picked up the receiver. "Ja?" He answered in German.

"Is Doctor Freeman at home?" A somewhat raspy voice on the other end spoke in English.

"Speaking." Gordon returned. It had been several months since he had last spoken in that language.

"Greetings Doctor Freeman. I represent the Black Mesa Research Facility. You have been highly recommended by a man under our employment."

"Who would that be?"

"Doctor Alex Kliener, your former professor from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology."

            For a moment Gordon was surprised. He had not heard from his old professor since he had graduated the year before. Swallowing, he continued the conversation.

"That's very kind of my professor but I'm happy with my job right now."

"I have no doubt of that Dr. Freeman but we are prepared to offer you a high paying job. Average monthly salary is in the six digit range."

            Gordon's eyes bulged out. He had never dreamed of making that kind of money, especially in his chosen field. But it had gotten his full attention and the sum of money was a huge incentive.

            In the next few minutes of talking about the various perks and requirements of the job, he had accepted the position. Two days later he received a letter confirming his new employment. As soon as everything had been cleared up with the Board of Directors at the university, Gordon hopped onto the next plane heading to the United States.

            His first few days were spent in getting oriented with the facility and his job. The first exciting thing he had done was the Hazard Course. It was short (only about twenty minutes long) but it introduced him to a key object that he would use, the HEV Mach IV. A wonder in modern technology, the thing was designed right there at Black Mesa. Gordon didn't enjoy the whole thing of the Hazard Course however. After putting aside the more obvious –and dangerous- live wires, flammable liquids, and radiation, there was the firing range.

            He didn't really understand why that was included. After all, what would he need a gun for? That's what the security guards were there for. There was also the fact that he held anti-gun views. It wasn't that he felt that his neighbor would try to kill him, is that he didn't feel like getting shot by some idiot who didn't know how to use the thing properly.

            The unexpected halt of the tram shook Gordon out of his memories and back to May 22, 2004. Looking around he could see one of the robotic walkers that handled dangerous jobs start wading into a pool of toxic waste. 'Huh, I wonder how that happened?' He thought as he caught sight of the busted storage tank. The tram started up again and finished its ride to Sector C.

            Rounding a bend, the tram approached the platform. Gordon got up from the seat and stretched his limbs. As he was doing that the tram stopped with a jerk, sending him off balance for a moment. Regaining it, he looked out the window to see the guard on duty begin walking to the tram. The overhead voice prattled on about the safety of exiting the tram.

"Thank you, and have a safe and productive day."

            Gordon took a deep breath and walked up to the door. The security guard stood by waiting for him.

"Morning Mr. Freeman, looks like you're running late."

"Yeah I know. Just punch in the code. I'm in enough trouble."

"I understand. Still suffering jet lag huh?" The guard said as he started entering the code.

"A little bit but give me another week and I'll be fine."

            The door mechanism dinged and the exit sign turned green. The door opened up and Gordon exited. He and the guard walked over to the airlock entry.

"Why don't you catch me later? I'll buy ya a beer."

"Na, thanks for the offer though."

            The guard inputted the access code and the computer beeped in response. Two massive rods that served as extra security slid to the side, the one on the top to the left while the other one on the bottom to the right. The double doors opened up and the blue lit entry was exposed. Gordon stepped in and the doors shut behind him.

            'Well at least the day can't get any worse than this.'


	2. Anomalous Materials

_Disclaimer: Half Life belongs to Valve Software. All rights reserved._

            All around Gordon the sound of machinery could be heard; gears shifting, rods moving into place, it was kind of like a musical parade of modern technology. And as a finale, the door ahead opened. The room beyond was the main entrance for the Anomalous Materials lab. On the opposite wall was the logo of the Black Mesa Research Facility superimposed on a map of the Earth. The left side of the room was lined with monitors, some displaying views from different cameras, others lined with announcements. On the right hand was a map of the floor along with the corridor that led further into the lab.

            And in the center of the room was the main desk, behind it the security guard on duty and one of Gordon's science team colleagues. Both of them had worried expressions. Straightening out his lab coat, Gordon walked up to the desk. The guard glanced up from his operations manual.

"Hey Mr. Freeman; I had a bunch of messages for you but we had a systems crash about…" he turned and looked at the computer screen. "…twenty minutes ago and I'm still trying to find my files. One of those days I guess." They both sighed.

"That's a bit of an understatement." Gordon added.

"They were having some problems down in the test chamber too," the guard continued, "but I think that's all straightened out. They wanted me to make sure you headed down there as soon as you got into your hazard suit."

Gordon nodded. "Thanks a lot." The guard tossed his hand up in response as he had already resumed his tangoing with the facility's computer. Gordon turned and headed towards the lab.

            In another part of the country, a man sat at his desk. He was dressed in a spotless pinstripe suit with a black tie. His shoes were polished to a bright sheen and his hair was arranged in an expensive cut; everything about the man just oozed suave and sophistication. And the room itself was no eye sore either. The walls were made out of smooth granite, the swirling black and white patterns on it polished to a high gloss. The floors were made out of solid marble that was perfectly tiled into many diamond shapes. A single solid oak door led into the room. An antique clock hung on the wall, ticking away the seconds as perfectly as it had when first crafted.

            The desk area also added it own charm. It was dark cherry red, its legs engraved with an intricate design. To the left of the desk was a combination fax machine and shredder, the paper tray to it full and the simple waste basket underneath empty. Now the top of the desk was a different story. While normally covered with only a blotter, pen holder, and note taker (and the occasional coffee cup ring), now it was littered with several piles of folders. But even then, those piles were organized neatly. The chair that the man was sitting in was of a matching splendor as well; the same kind of expensive wood, its own intricate design, and with a seat made of velvet.

            The man took a deep breath and took a new folder from the top of his "In" pile and opened it up. The file inside was small and contained only the usual amount of information; a picture of the man, a brief medical readout and his background. His file read:

SUBJECT: Gordon Freeman. Male, Age 27

EDUCATION: Ph.D., MIT, Theoretical Physics

POSITION: Research Associate

ASSIGNMENT: Anomalous Materials Laboratory

CLEARANCE: Level 3

ADMINISTRATIVE SPONSOR: Classified

DISASTER RESPONSE PRIORITY: Discretionary

            The door slid into its recess and Gordon stepped through. On the other side was the locker room for the top side staff of the Anomalous Materials Laboratory. It was also the storage area for the lab's Hazard Suits. Inside was one of Gordon's colleagues, Doctor Steve Bond. As always, he was complaining about the facility's dress code. Gordon ignored the man and walked on past to the HEV storage. Bond however, didn't leave him alone.

"You're late again today Johnny."

Gordon rolled his eyes.

"Could you please stop comparing me to a fourty year old actor?"

"Not until you shave off that goatee."

            Gordon decided not to dignify that with a response; the goatee was something that he took pride in having.

            Dismissing Bond with a wave of his hand, Gordon walked on past him to the rear left side of the locker room. A console stood on a raised platform with three toggles that controlled the HEV storage units. Two of the three suits were missing; leading Gordon to conclude that Dr. Cross and Dr. Green has already stopped by and gotten theirs. The only suit left was the default orange color suit that occupied the center unit. Gordon grimaced. He hated it color, hoping that he could've gotten the silver colored suit.

            But as Gordon's grandmother had been fond of saying, "if wishes were horses, beggars would ride." Gordon hit the corresponding switch on the console and the glass containment rose into the ceiling and allowed him to get the suit. Stepping away from the console, Gordon ambled down a few steps to his left and walked up to the HEV suit.

            The suit was a result of two decades of research. An orange colored metal alloy covered most of the suit, separated only by black rubber appropriately placed in areas where flexibility was needed. The interior of the suit was a soft compound that insulated the body within against temperature extremes and absorbed sweat to aid in the body's natural cooling process. The thing that caught ones eye however was the inverted y encapsulated by a circle. But between the outer skin and the interior insulation was the true heart of the HEV Mk. IV; a complex design of microcircuitry that operated all of the advanced features of the suit.

            However hanging on its storage rack, the HEV suit didn't look like much of anything.

            Picking the piece of equipment up and slinging it over his shoulders, Gordon walked out of the storage area and over to the bathroom stalls. He wasn't into voyeurism and wanted a good measure of privacy while he stripped off half his clothing to put the suit on. Unfortunately for Gordon, both stalls were occupied, thus leaving him up to his own imagination to find a place to change.

            Gordon chose his rather cramped locker.

            There wasn't much in the closet; a spare lab coat, a coffee mug, Gordon's diploma, and a picture of his two month old nephew. There was just enough room inside for Gordon to put the HEV suit on. He stepped in and closed the door behind him. Stripping off all his clothes down to his boxers, socks, and undershirt, Gordon stood ready to put the suit on. Taking a deep breath, he carefully slid both legs into the suit and his arms into the sleeves. After that the suit's automated system kicked in, sealing up the split in the back seamlessly. Gordon heard the computer come online with a ding.

_"Welcome to the HEV mach four, protective system; for use in hazardous environment conditions."_

            The computer's automated voice had a distinct feminine tone and began to prattle off the various functions of the suit as they came online. The voice was a little too chirpy for Gordon's tastes; he preferred a clean, level tone void of emotion. But what really grated his nerves was the Heads Up Display (HUD) that appeared at the bottom of his vision. No matter where he looked or if his eyes were closed, the orange HUD just hung there with two displays on the lower left corner; one for his overall physical status which had a rather fat cross next to a numerical readout with a hundred being the highest (and his current) number and a picture of a body for the suit's armor charge percentage.

            Gordon noticed that his suit had a ten percent charge. He shrugged it off, believing that it was probably leftover from the last time it was used. Flexing his gloved hands a few times, Gordon opened the door of his locker and stepped out.

"Look in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's Superman!"

            Gordon's response to Bond's joke was to flip the elderly scientist off. Bond huffed.

"Well aren't we in a good mood this morning?" Bond sarcastically commented before walking out. Gordon waited a moment before leaving the locker room as well. As he walked down the corridor, he passed by the break room. Inside he could hear Bond talking with someone else.

"I was joking around but NO, Freeman had to show me his middle finger."

"Well he was supposed to be in the test chamber half an hour ago."

"Be that as it may, what he did was absolutely uncalled for."

"I guess you're right."

            Outside, Gordon was mentally smacking himself.

'That was _real_ mature of me'

            He decided to apologize to Bond sometime later that day after he had performed the experiment. Gordon mentally smacked himself again. He was going to be in some deep trouble if he didn't haul it down to the test chamber. The computer bank lined corridor became a blur as Gordon broke into a run. Dozens of his coworkers were working like ants to get everything ready for the experiment. Some were just as late as Gordon, cursing themselves and hurriedly finishing their assignments. Some were performing last minute calibrations and tests on their equipment. And for the rest, they were either in a managerial position or nervous monitoring the numerous readouts.

            The security guard at the first checkpoint between Gordon and the test chamber was standing right by the retinal scanner, waiting for the scientist to arrive. When he heard Gordon's booted feet tromping down the hallway, he turned around and began to unlock the door. Gordon arrived just in time to hear the computer verify the guard's retinal pattern with a beep.

"Go right on through sir. Looks like you're in the barrel today."

            Gordon nodded in appreciation and continued running on through. The twin doors ahead of him slid into their recesses with a hiss and allowed him to pass. The room ahead branched to the left and right with both ends meeting up at the elevator door to form a circle. The walls had cycling advertisement pictures that depicted various aspects and areas of the Black Mesa Research Facility. Embedded within the ceiling was the facility wide VOX system that just happened to come to life.

"Doctor Freeman, to Anomalous Materials test lab immediately," its monotone voice said.

            Gordon sighed as he came to a halt near the elevator doors. He must really be in trouble if they had paged him over the VOX. The automatic sensors detected Gordon's presence and opened for him. The elevator sat just inside; it wasn't too much to look at, just a simple open sided construction with a standard hydraulics and pulley system to lift it up and down. Gordon stepped in and pressed the control pad to start the elevator into a descent. The machine jerked slightly in response before beginning to move.

            The trip ended a few moments later with another slight jerk. The doors ahead parted way and Gordon began to calmly walk down the corridor. A few of his colleagues were there chatting about mindless things. When they saw Gordon they paused and nodded in courteous acknowledgement of his presence. Gordon nodded back and they returned to their discussion. Gordon ignored them afterwards and passed through another set of doors. The next hallway was empty and the only sound heard was the steady humming of the laser banks that lined the walls and the computers that controlled them. The hallway turned into the liquid nitrogen coolant storage containers.

            After that it was a straight path (more or less) to the test chamber control room. Inside the project leaders, Doctors Douglas Wood, Robin Walker, and Aaron Stackpole stood waiting for Gordon. When the HEV clad scientist arrived, they collectively sighed in relief.

"Ah, Gordon, here you are. We just sent the sample down to the test chamber." Dr. Walker started.

"We've boosted the anti-mass spectrometer one-hundred-five percent. Bit of a gamble, but we need the extra resolution." Dr. Stackpole continued. Dr. Wood, the project leader, was the next to speak.

"The administrator is very concerned that we get a conclusive analysis of today's sample. I gather they went to some length to get it."

            It was Dr. Stackpole who finished Gordon's briefing.

"They're waiting for you Gordon… in the test chamber."

"Gee, did you have to make it sound so dramatic?" Gordon asked with a slight grin. Dr. Stackpole was about to answer when Dr. Wood did it for him.

"Oh you know him Dr. Freeman; he always has to make everything sound like that."

Stackpole rolled his eyes and began to look very interested at a nearby computer panel. Wood turned around and cleared Gordon for further entry. The retinal scanner did its job and opened the next door for Gordon. He nodded at his colleagues and walked on through into the ion chambers. The room itself had no lights. Instead, illumination was provided by the three ion reactors that sat on the right side of the room. At the other end of the room was the final elevator Gordon had to use and the computers that controlled the ion reaction rate.

Standing by the computers were Dr. Steve Miller and Dr. Eli Vance. Eli was one of the first scientists Gordon had met when he came to Black Mesa and was now one of his good friends. The African American noticed Gordon walking down the hall and came to meet.

"Well Gordon, you certainly took your time getting here. Steve and I were betting whether or not you'd forgotten to set your alarm."

"I did actually. I spent the whole night reviewing the operation procedures that before I had noticed, it was quarter after one."

            Eli made a fist and swiftly brought it through the air with a reluctant grin on his face.

"Damn, now I owe Steve fifty bucks."

            Gordon and Eli began to laugh out loud. It was little things like this that kept scientists like them sane when work kept them underground and in the labs almost all of the day. But Eli had a few other things to look forward to, like a wife who worked as a shipping clerk in the facility and a daughter at home.

            The jovial mood was interrupted by an explosion. Eli's head twisted around to face the source of the explosion and saw smoke coming from the computer banks.

"Quick! It's about to go critical!" Miller cried out from within the black billows.

            Eli ran over while Gordon turned around and headed back for the control room. The door was still unlocked so it slid open to reveal the project command staff working furiously at the computer controls. Dr. Walker looked up at Gordon.

"What the hell happened Freeman?"

            Gordon smashed a nearby fire extinguisher case and grabbed the object within while explaining.

"The ion reactors control computer's caught on fire."

            Gordon ran back to other room while prepping the fire extinguisher. Eli and Miller were working furiously to keep the reactors from exploding and taking out everything in a twenty foot radius. Eli was coughing up a storm when Gordon stopped by with the extinguisher nozzle pointed at the computer. Gordon pressed the lever and the white foam blasted onto the fire. Miller got out of the way just in time to avoid getting blasted by the froth. Thankfully most of the smoke was caused by burning plastic, the actual fire itself being relatively small.

            With the smoke rapidly dissipating, Eli walked over and began checking the various readouts that were left.

"Well, is everything working?" Miler asked between coughing fits. Eli let out a heavy sigh and wiped his forehead.

"We're damn lucky. The reaction rate is still within optimal range still." The scientist turned around and looked at Gordon.

"Thanks for your help. You better get on down to the test chamber; Steve and I will take care of things up here."

            Gordon nodded, set the extinguisher on the floor, and turned around. Clouds of doubt filled his mind about the experiment. A lot of strange things were happening today. First there was the maintenance on the computer core and the facility's hydro plant, then the topside communications were turned off, and finally now this. As he called up the elevator, Gordon just hoped that it would all be worth it when the day was over.

            As Gordon stepped onto the elevator and descended to the lowest section of the lab, Eli looked at Miller.

"What the hell is going on with our equipment?"

"It wasn't meant to do this in the first place!"

"You think we should put the experiment on hold until we can address our problems with the administrator?"

"And go face-to-face with his blue suit wearing lackey? That man gives me the creeps."

            Eli turned back to the computer bank.

"Good point."

            The door leading to the test chamber's air lock opened and Gordon stepped through. The large steel doors were firmly locked and two more of Gordon's fellow scientists stood inside.

"I'm afraid we'll be deviating a bit from standard analysis procedures today Gordon." The younger of the two said.

"Yes, but with good reason. This is a rare opportunity for us; this is the purest sample we've seen yet." The older one continued.

"And, potentially, the most unstable."

"Now, now, if you follow standard insertion procedures, everything will be fine."

"I don't know how you can say that. Although I admit that the possibility of a resonance cascade scenario is extremely unlikely, I remain uncomfortable with-"

"Gordon doesn't need to hear all this; he's a highly trained professional. We've assured the administrator that **nothing will go wrong**."

            The younger scientist sighed in defeat with a glance skyward as if asking for forgiveness.

"Ah… yes, you're right. Gordon, we have complete confidence in you."

            His aged counterpart nodded and turned around towards his retinal scanner.

"Well, go ahead, let's let him in now."

            Both men walked towards their scanner and halted in front of it.

"On the count of three," the older man said.

"One… two… three."

            They leaned in and activated their respective scanner. The machines beeped in perfect synchrony, scanned the retinal patterns, and cleared Gordon for entry into the test chamber. Taking a deep breath, Gordon walked through into the cavernous area. A split second after he crossed the border, the doors clanged shut behind him, the sound echoing throughout the room.

            The chamber was massive, to say the least. It was constructed in an octagonal shape, centered around the massive anti-mass spectrometer that extended further than Gordon could see and below the floor to another room where Doctors Cross and Green were currently working with Dr. Keller. To Gordon's left was a small view port that allowed the staff in the control room to look in and underneath that was the sample elevator. Opposite of Gordon, on the other side of the spectrometer, was a ramp that connected to a raised platform. The platform ran around a quarter of the room's perimeter with a single keyboard and monitor at its end. Between the ramp and the platform's end was a ladder that rose to a steel platform that had the spectrometer's main controls. Several pipes in pairs of two occupied a few parts of the chamber, the necessary coolant being pumped through them.

            The anti-mass spectrometer wasn't any less impressive than the chamber that housed it. The part Gordon could see had three clamps at the construct's bottom. Directly in line with the sample elevator was the spectrometer's analysis port. In the center of the bottom half of the spectrometer was a pit about five feet deep. Most of that room was taken up by a single receiver, known as the focal stage as that's where the all of the power was centered. The top half was divided into two parts, the primary emitter that was vertically aligned with the focal stage and a trio of secondary emitters that revolved around the primary one.

            And the entire thing, spectrometer and chamber, was colored a dull orange.

            The overhead speakers screeched to life as Dr. Walker fired up the system.

"Testing… testing," he coughed a few times into the microphone, "everything seems to be in order."

            Walker was pushed aside as Stackpole took command of the mike.

"Alright Gordon, your suit should keep you comfortable through all this. The specimen will be delivered to you in a few moments. If you be so good as to climb up and start the rotors, we can bring the anti-mass spectrometer to eighty percent and hold it there until the carrier arrives."

            Gordon started walking around to the other end of the chamber, the spectrometer's three foot high safety blocks preventing him from accidentally walking into the focal stage. He ascended the ramp and began to climb the ladder, vocally grunting on the way up.

'Damn, this is hard. I hate climbing things.'

            Despite his grievance, the climb wasn't hard at all. Nonetheless, he was glad when he could step off and onto the main controls platform. At the other end was the controls themselves so he walked the two yards. To his left was a monitor that was currently running a diagnostic program. To its right were a keyboard and the activation switch. The safety glass had been raised, permitting Gordon to flip the switch. He placed a hand on it.

"Here we go."

            He flipped it.

            The massive rotors embedded within the primary emitter started turning, slowly gaining speed. The monitor to the keyboard's left was taken out of its diagnostics mode and into the test program. After a moment, the switch beeped and the safety glass automatically closed.

"Very good, we'll take it from here," Stackpole said over the intercom.

            Inside the control room, things had quieted down quickly from the fire and everyone was doing their job. Walker had taken a seat at a control panel where there was another microphone. His fingers danced all over his keyboard, keeping his end of the line up. Lines of commands scrolled down his screen as he switched on various functions of the anti-mass spectrometer. He spoke into the mike so as to keep Gordon informed of what was happened in the control room.

"Power to stage one emitter in three… two… one…"

            At his cue, a brilliant beam shot forth from the primary emitter and into the focal stage. A light hum filled the air.

"I'm seeing predictable phase arrays," Walked continued to say.

            The three secondary emitters started revolving around the primary emitter, energy crackling around them.

"Stage two emitters activating… now."

            Three more beams shot down to the focal point, further adding to the dazzling display of electromagnetic and theoretical science. Gordon couldn't help but squint. The light was a bit too much for him to handle. Stackpole came back on.

"Gordon, we can not predict how long the system can operate at this level (nor how long the readings will take), please, work as quickly as you can."

            Gordon willingly diverted his eyes from the beams and to the keyboard in front of him. He started monitoring programs and constantly added certain important readings to a log. The data was almost too much for him to handle but he managed to get it all in. Unexpectedly, Walker's voice sounded over the speakers once again.

"Uh, it's probably not a problem… probably but I'm showing a small discrepancy in… well, no. It's well within acceptable bounds again, sustaining sequence."

            Gordon glanced at his logs. Nothing out of the ordinary showed up. It was most likely an operations error that wasn't displayed to him.

"I've just been informed that the sample is ready Gordon. It should be coming up to you any moment now. Look to the delivery system for your specimen."

            The scientist looked down at where the elevator was but all he could see were dancing butterflies caused by the light reflecting in his glasses.

'That does it.' Gordon took his glasses off and let his suit absorb them. He wouldn't need them for the next upcoming part anyways. He only required them to read. Now he could make out the blinking red lights around the safety cage that prevented people from falling down the elevator. Quickly climbing down the ladder, he touched bottom just when the sample rose into position.

            The specimen itself was a pale yellow crystal, held in place by a pair of padded arms that projected from the carrier. The carrier was simple in construction and moved around on four rollers. Gordon walked up to the rock and looked at it with a dubious expression.

'Where the hell did they dig this thing up?'

            It was a good question that deserved a good answer but Gordon wasn't permitted to know it. So he shrugged and walked behind the carrier, grasping it by the handle. Stackpole's voice came on again.

"Standard insertion for a non-standard specimen. Go ahead Gordon, shlomp the carrier into the analysis port.

            With no other choice, all doubt cast aside (and his job riding on him doing so regardless), Gordon pushed the sample into the path of the beam.

            May 22, 2004, 9:21 A.M. A date and time that would forever be etched into the annals of history. For it was the day of the Resonance Cascade. When the four beams of tremendous power touched the sample, a near instantaneous reaction occurred. The crystal began to vibrate at a frequency undetectable by human hearing. With such a pure crystal, there was nothing to prevent an uncontrollable release of its stored energy. It was the combination of those two things, the vibration and energy release, everything in the Black Mesa Research Facility went straight to Hell.

            The formerly yellow beams turned a sickly green and backfired into their emitters and the lights in the room dimmed. The room began to shake and large burst of energy broke out from the specimen. Gordon threw up his hands in reflex and backed away from the sample.

"What the fuck?"

"Gordon! Get away from the beams!" Stackpole yelled over the microphone.

            Large lasers began firing from the focal stage at random intervals into the chamber, utterly incinerating anything it touched. The control room was engulfed in chaos as well, the three man team desperately trying to bring everything back under control. Walker's panicked eyes flittered across his keyboard, trying anything that he could think of. But there was nothing that could be done.

"Shutting down… attempting shutdown…" He started hyperventilating as bold red errors displayed on his screen.

"It's not… it's not, it's not shutting down, it's not-"

            Those were the last words he would ever speak as one of the lasers that had been destroying the test chamber flew through the view port. The entire command team screamed in horror as the computers inside exploded, shrapnel ripping through their bodies.

            Inside the test chamber, Gordon could do nothing but watch and listen in horror. But something else then happened, like his entire mind cleared of all the chaotic thoughts and focused on one simple thing. The activation switch! If he could reach it before the anti-mass spectrometer went critical and exploded, it would cut off the entire flow of power to the device and bring everything back under control!

            Gordon leapt into action, his feet pounding on the metal floor as he ran towards the ladder. Another burst of energy was released from the specimen, and this time mysterious green clouds began to form at random throughout the test chamber. As soon as Gordon jumped off ladder onto the upper platform, one of the clouds formed directly in front of him. Gordon's jaw dropped opened as some… _thing_ appeared, fell to the bottom of the chamber, and disappeared in another cloud.

"What in God's name _are_ those things?"

            But he forced his mind to concentrate at the matter at hand. He ran to the master controls and glanced at the screen. Indecipherable garbage filled the screen and was quickly replaced by even more of the junk. Gordon looked down at the activation switch. The emergency glass hadn't reacted to the standard security protocols and was still locked over the switch.

            A sound akin to a vacuum was heard down at the focal point and a plethora of green beams shot out from the sample. There was no time left. Gordon raised his right fist to shatter the glass.

            One of the beams collided with him.

            Gordon felt someone had grabbed a hold of his guts and wrenched them inside-out. He found himself in a dark abyss, the only sound his heavy breathing.

'Am I… dead,' he wondered. The sensation of someone starting to violently jerk him once more served to dismiss that.

BEWSHZ

            Gordon looked around and found himself back inside the test chamber. Another burst of energy was released from the sample. There was only one more thing he could think of to stop it all. He ran forward back the carrier and placed his hands on the thing, preparing to yank it from the analysis port.

            Fate had other ideas.

BEWSHZ

            Gordon found himself in a distinctly alien world. The soil (if it could be called that) had a puke green tint. The plant life (again, if it could be called that) was like nothing to be found on Earth. A strange transparent being that resembled a jellyfish floated through the air without a care in the world. But in front of Gordon were two creatures that each had an eye on the side of its torso, numerous tentacles surrounding a circular mouth full of teeth, a tail with a hook at the end, and two legs that they were surprisingly able to balance themselves on. Gordon stared at them in surprise. They did the same to him.

BEWSHZ

            He was now in some other place with only a single source of light with unknown origins. But it did well to illuminate four more aliens of a completely different kind. They were bipedal and stood roughly five feet tall. Two arms stuck out of their torso in the same position as a human's. Their head was also in the same area. But that is were the similarities between the two species ended. A third arm, half the length of the other two, stuck out from its chest and the hands were tipped not in five fingers, but in three claws. The skin had a leathery texture and instead of two eyes, there was a single large eye centered in the head surrounded by five other eyes. They stood in a hunched over position as well.

            The light faded as Gordon felt the jerking feeling begin to rise once more within him.

"What in God's name have I done?"

            _I stayed up until __midnight__ to write this on the same day that I say the events take place. I made it with only seconds to spare_.


	3. Unforseen Consequences

_Disclaimer: You get the idea by now._

            Gordon slowly opened his eyes. They were immediatly met with the shambled remains of the test chamber. 'Oh man. How long have I been out?' He hauled his body up off of the ground. Gordon scanned his surroundings. The receptor was gone, as well as the cart. He could see that the airlock was open. Stumbling, he made his way over the debris to it.

            As soon as he stepped inside, Gordon saw the remains of the younger scientist. Gordon turned his head away, not wanting to believe what happened. He saw that the retinal scanner was partially broken. He stepped over to it and attempted to use it. The computer started spitting out garbage, ultimately ending in a small explosion that permanently destroyed the device.

            The door to its left started to open slowly. As soon as it was, Gordon stepped out into the hallway. He could see the older scientist performing CPR on a security guard that had come down. Gordon collapsed on the opposite wall, still trying to catch his breath. 'This can't be happening. God, this can't be happening.' The scientist kept trying to save the guard, not giving up. Gordon noticed that his HUD showed that he was fine, his suit still at a 10% charge.

            The guard stirred and showed signs of life. The scientist rose and helped the guard up on his feet. Gordon took this as a good sign and rose up off of the ground himself. 'I've got to get out of here'. He made his way down the corridor to the elevator, the only source of illumination coming from the emergency lights.

            As soon as Gordon climbed over some fallen piping, a nearby computer bank exploded, crushing the corpse of another dead scientist. He felt like vomiting, but was able to keep it down. The elevator was in sight, apparently not damaged. 'If we're lucky, the damage was contained to this level. Gordon forced open the only intact door, got inside, and pushed the button. As he rose, Gordon lost any hope that the damage was contained to that level.

            The door shattered as it opened for him. To his left, a strange creature was imprisoned in one of the ion chambers. Ahead of him Dr. Riller was on the floor, clutching at his chest. Dr. Bailey, surprisingly uninjured, was standing over him. Gordon ran over to offer any help he could. "Why didn't they listen?" "We tried to warn them." "I never thought I'd see a reasonce cascade, let alone create one." "Hey, are you okay?"

            Dr. Bailey turned at the sound of Gordon's voice. "Gordon, you're alive! Thank God for that hazard suit. I'm afraid to move, and all our phones are out. Please, get to surface as quickly as you can and let someone know we're stranded down here." "Well, alright. I'll go." "You'll need me activate the retinal scanner. I'm sure the rest of the science team will gladly help you."

            Gordon and Dr. Bailey walked over to the retinal scanner. Dr. Bailey released the lock and went back to Riller's side. Gordon walked through into the remains of the control room. The smell of charred flesh reached his nostrils, the only earthly remainder of the scientists. Gordon stepped forward, only to be cut off when a laser beam came from the test chamber, temporarily blocking him from the door.

            'That was too close for comfort.' Gordon was about to try again when another beam came from the chamber. He waited to see if another one came. Just as he expected, another one did come, but it split off into another beam that made contact with the door on the other side. The door vaporized, and with it so did the beam. Seeing his chance, Gordon made a dash for the exit, reaching it just before he was fried by another beam.

            Gordon jogged through the dimly lit corridor to  the coolant storage tanks. One of the tanks had burst, spilling its contents on the floor. *BEWWSSSHHHZZ* He heard a strange noise and looked up just in time to see one of those strange creatures drop from the air onto the floor in front of him. Gordon froze, not wanting to alert the creature to his presence. It didn't work however, as the creature let out a small shreik and jumped at him.

            Gordon ducked in time so that it sailed over his head and landed behind him. He didn't stay to see what it's reaction was. He jumped over some pipes and went through the barely functioning door. 'Where did these things come from?' Gordon shook his head and focused at the task at hand. 'I can't worry about that now. I've get to the surface and get help.' Gordon started jogging down the corridor to the elevator. Then a laser beam burst from its containment unit, nearly cutting him in two. 'That was WAY too close.'

            Gordon quickly ducked under its path and got to safety. Another laser beam broke through its containment and went through a fallen computer bank. After avoiding that beam, Gordon saw the body of a dead security guard lying on the ground, his outstretched arm holding his gun. Gordon wasn't too fond of guns, despite his training with one in the hazard course, but he wasn't stupid either. That gun represented his best chance for survival. He made a dive for it.

            Gordon tried to rip it out from the guards hand, but he had a death's grip on it. He started prying at the fingers, one by one. 'Come on you sucker, give it up.' The laser beam inched closer. He got two fingers open. He glanced over at the rapidly approaching beam. 'Almost got it.' Gordon only had two fingers left, but time ran out. He dropped the hand and rolled aside.

            The laser cut the guard in two, taking along with it the gun which Gordon had dropped in the path of the beam. 'Damn.' He got off of the ground and dusted himself off. The door leading to the elevator was closed and Gordon was unable to pry it open by himself. When he looked around for something to pry it open, his eyes spotted a crowbar lying in the corner. 'Perfect.'

            When Gordon picked it up, he was surprised to find it register on his HUD as a class 1 weapon. 'At least I'm not defenseless.' He tried to put the straight end in the door to pry it open but was unable to. Flipping the crowbar ends around in his hand, Gordon then smashed the glass on the door and crawled through. The path to elevator was clear before him.

            Gordon smashed the glass to the elevator, suspecting it to be out of service. *BOOM!* He heard an explosion above him, immediatly followed by screams. Gordon saw the elevator rush by him, three scientists going with it. It exploded as soon as it hit the floor, debris and body parts flew up by him before going back down. That was the last thing that he could take. Gordon leaned over the edge of the landing and puked his brains out.

            After he finished, Gordon just sat there resting, debating whether or not to go on. 'Get over it Gordon. You'll probably see more horrid things before this is all over.' With that thought in mind, he picked himself off of the floor and started climbing a nearby maintenance ladder. When he got near the top, Gordon heard something growl nearby. He leaped off the ladder onto the landing, crowbar ready in his hand.

            *POW POW POW POW* The sound of a gun being fired reached Gordon's ears as he stepped through the doorway. To his left was some sort of creature that looked like it had once been a scientist. Except where his head was supposed to be, one of those leaping creatures was. The thing was going to attack the security guard that was shooting the gun, his bullets having little effect on it.

            Gordon swung his crowbar, the ends of it tearing the skin off of the creature. 'Come on, DIE!' He then ripped open what looked like a pus sac on its back. Puke green blood poured out of it and it fell down, dead. "Gordon! Man, am I glad to see you! What the hell are these things and why are they wearing science team uniforms?!?" "I don't know!" The guard turned and open fire on another incoming creature.

            *POW POW POW POW POW POW POW POW THUMP* The creature fell down dead. "Hey, I'm going to surface to get help. I've only got a crowbar for a weapon. Think you could lend me a hand?" Gordon asked the guard. "Okay, I'll cover you." "Thanks." They cautiously walked around the elevator shaft to the first checkpoint. The guard station there was lying on the floor, dead. His body crushed by the automated doors.

            After the two of them pried open the other doors, Gordon and the guard found two more former scientists coming at them from the opposite end of the hall. The guard opened up, killing both of them before they were able to get to close. Gordon then saw a leaping creature on top of a dead scientist's head. He ran over, pried it of with his crowbar, and bludgeoned it to death.

            Gordon took a moment to examine the scientist that the creature was on. 'His scalp is gone, as well as some of his skull.' He then looked at the body of the creature. 'I get it. These things attempt to kill a person by leaping on their head. Then they probably release a sedative of some sort into their system. They then eat away the protective layers of the victim's brain, attach themselves to it, and take over the host's nervous system.'

            Gordon got up and explained it to the guard. "These headcrab creatures are parasites. They kill a person and take over their body. They become..." he stopped as he tried to think of the right word. "They become zombies." The guard shook his head in amazement. When they got to intersection between the entrance and the personal facilities, Gordon asked the guard to hold on. "Yeah. I'll... I'll wait here"

            Gordon jogged down to the lockers to see if any scientists were hanging around there. 'If anyone was here, they're long gone by now.' He could see the locker belonging to someone named "Jones" was wide open. Inside were two clips for the guns that the guards used. Gordon took them in case he got one of those guns. He jogged back down to where the guard was waiting for him. "All set." "Yeah, let's go."

            They made their way to the sector entrance. An explosion from the next room blew open the air vent at the bottom of the wall. Gordon went over to the main desk and shut off the alarms that were blazing all around the room. *POW POW POW* He turned to see a dead headcrab on the ground. The guard turned towards him and said, "I'll stay here and help anyone else that comes by." "Okay. Good luck."

            Gordon tried opening the door to where the tram was, but the console wouldn't respond to his input. 'I don't have time for this.' He swung his crowbar and destroyed the console. The airlock grinded open and he crawled through the tram dock. Standing on the partially destroyed dock, was a scientist. Gordon stepped on the dock to help him onto safety. *SCCCREEECHH* He could hear the dock tremble under his weight.

            "Get away!" The scientist said to Gordon. All of a sudden, the dock gave way beneath him. The scientist grabbed onto one of the steel cables that, until now, held the dock in place. "GORDON!" he yelled. He lost his grip, and fell into the dark recesses below. "AAAAHHHH-HHHH!" his scream echoed all the way down until it was cut off by a wet splat. 'No.' Gordon collapsed on what was left of the dock. 'I'm responsible for his death.' He hung there, feeling low as ever.

            'I just caused him to die.' Gordon couldn't get the thought out of his head. Eventually he got up and turned around. 'There's nothing I can do. What's done is done. It was an accident, just like this whole mess.' He felt his conscience calm down at that thought. Gordon looked to his left. The body of the security guard who had offered him a beer was lying there. He felt uneasy about searching his body, but he didn't need any of what he had on him anymore.

            The guard's gun was gone, presumedly it had fallen off the dock. All he had on him was a single clip for it. Gordon let his suit absorb the clip like he had done with the other two. He went back to the sector desk and then crawled through the destroyed airvent. As soon as he got out, one of the sector server machines blew and nearly crushed him. Gordon then heard a noise to his left. He got his crowbar ready to defend himself.

            From behind the server machine jumped a headcrab. Gordon swung his crowbar, hitting the thing with a smack. It fell at his feet, still alive. He took the straight end of his crowbar and shoved right through the headcrab's bulbous body. It went limp, signifing its death. Gordon pulled his crowbar out of its body and climbed up another fallen computer and crawled through an airvent at the top of the room.

            To Gordon's left was a fallen section of a ventilation shaft. As he walked by it, another headcrab broke through and jumped at him. A few quick whacks with his crowbar and it was dead. Gordon looked through the soundproof glass to see a scientist in there fighting unarmed against a headcrab. It leaped at the scientist, only to be hit away. As the creature was lying on the floor stunned, the scientist cautiously circled around it and pushed a file cabinet on top of it, squishing it. As the scientist celebrated his victory, another headcrab leapt out from behind him, landing on his head.

            *POW POW POW.... POW* Gordon heard a gun go off to his right. Running, he got to the airlock in time to see a zombie slump down, dead, to the floor. He heard a sound at his feet. The guard for the airlock was on the floor, his vest covered with claw marks and his own blood. The guard dropped his gun and looked up at Gordon right before coughing up more blood and finally dying.

            Gordon closed the guard's eyelids as a symbol of last respect. He saw his gun lying on the ground. He picked it up and examined it. 'Glock 18 Austria 9X19' He had heard of the Glock series, a very successful and useful weapon. Gordon put aside his anti-gun feelings, his survival of greater importance than politics. He spent a moment examining the weapon, learning how to eject the clip, release the slide when he put a fresh one in, etc.

            The only thing Gordon couldn't figure out was what the dial on the slide was for. 'Let's see. It has a dash that's pointing to a single dot. When I move it, the dash points to two dots.' After think a little bit more, it finally hit him. 'Single shot and burst! This is one hell of a gun.' Glock in hand, Gordon squeezed through the airlock, pushed the door release button, and stepped through the next door.

            Gordon heard a scream come from his left. He turned just in time to see a scientist run by, chased by something running on three legs. He was about to come to his rescue when another one of those things suddenly appeared from a green energy cloud. Gordon was stunned at this form of transportation. 'They're..... teleporting in from that place.' He was cut of from his thoughts by a whining that the creature was making.

            'It seems to be building up a charge of some sort.' The pitch of the whine was increasing at a high rate. Gordon aimed his gun at the creature and squeezed the trigger. *POW POW POW* The creature was taken by surprise, ceased its whining and leaped back a foot. He saw the creature blink hundreds, if not thousands, of eyes at once. Gordon let one last round off at the thing. It shrieked and fell down, dead.

            'Four bullets. Less than the zombies.' Gordon than heard the whining again from his right. 'I forgot about the other one!' He rushed over to the source but was too late. The whining stopped and a shockwave came from its direction. The hazard suit registered damage and showed the direction that the damage came from.

            The other creature ran into Gordon's line of view. He was still a little dizzy from its shockwave, but shook it off. "DIE!" He aimed his gun and started firing. *POW POW POW POW POW* The thing keeled over, green blood pooling from the bullet holes. Gordon stood there, doing nothing but breathing. The adrenaline in his system was running high, amplifying his senses. He checked himself out via the HUD. '97 health, 0 charge, 9 rounds spent, 51 spare.'

            Gordon remembered the scientist who had run by. He jogged over to where he should be, but he had been blasted apart by the shockwave. A wet, crunching sound came from above and behind him. Gordon looked that way to see another scientist's body hanging out of an airvent. The body was pulled in and a mere seconds later, his heart and liver, along with other body parts, came flying out.

            Gordon turned away and headed down the corridor, ignoring. 'I've got to ignore death. It's gruesome, but it won't help.' As soon as he turned the corner, three more of the things from before appeared, one of them jumped through a window. *WHEEEEEE* All three started charging at the same time. *POW POW POW POW WHUMP POW POW POW POW CLICK WHUMP* 'Great time to run out.' Gordon thought.

            Gordon quickly ejected the spent clip. He reached for an opening in suit. Inside his suit made the clip he needed appear. He grabbed it and slapped it home. Just then the creature released its shockwave, knocking Gordon to the ground. "Minor lacerations detected" His suit's computer voice said. He recovered from the wave just as the creature started building up another one. 'Not this time.' He pressed the slide release button on the gun, chambering a round.

            *POW POW POW POW WHUMP* Gordon stepped over to examine the creature. "I think I'll call your kind a houndeye." He saw out of the corner of his eye a medstation. Climbing through the broken window, Gordon opened up the panel in front of his suit cover by the l, and hooked up the coiled hose to the access port. He felt the accelerated healing compound flow onto his wounds. Soon, he felt like new again.

            Gordon climbed out of the window and opened up the door opposite of him. *SCREE* A headcrab jumped out from behind the door at him. He quickly got out of the way and shot it to death. "I wonder what's down here.' Gordon walked down the short hallway and slowly climbed the ladder at its end. Even before he was completely over, he saw a zombie standing next to a pair of fuel tanks. An idea came to his head.

            'Sure hope this works.' With one arm hanging onto the ladder, Gordon stuck his hand over the top and fired once. *BOOOOOM* The resulting explosion and flying of alien body parts proved the he was right. He stuck his head over to examine his handy work. "Holy shit!" Other than the marks and stains on the wall, there was no other evidence that the tanks or zombie was ever there. Climbing onto the landing, he took the path to his left.

            Gordon walked over the pathway, having no idea where he was going. He turned around a corner to see a zombie feasting on the body of a scientist. 'Its mouth is in its chest?!? That is really bizarre.' The zombie detected Gordon's presence, stopped eating, and went after the live, fresh meal. Gordon looked around quickly and spotted another explosive tank nearby.

He backed up to the hallway and opened fire. *POW POW POW BOOOM*

            The zombie was blown backwards and cut in half by the explosion. Gordon got pelted by some of the debris, injuring him slightly. 'Guess I was a little TOO close that time.' He inspected the area to find a heavily sealed door. Gordon looked through the grating to see what was behind. To the average person, it was nothing. But to the desperate survivor, it was an arms cache. 'SWEET! Grenades!'

            The door was locked with a retinal scanner that was, unfortunately for Gordon, still functioning. 'Maybe someone with clearance is nearby and still alive.' He ran back to the ladder and looked around. Sure enough, hiding in a nearby corner was a live scientist. "Hey, are you okay?" The scientist looked up at the sound of Gordon's voice. After he got up, the scientist talked to him. "Freeman. Who would've suspected that you'd still be alive?" "I'm surprised that I am as well. Can you let me through to lock by the weapons locker?" "Yes. Let's go." "Right."

            A minute later, the door swung open and Gordon and the scientist walked in. Gordon walked over and used the medstation to heal himself. "Hey, why don't you take the gun lying on the rack over there? I'm sure that you'll need it up ahead." When he turned around, the scientist was sitting in the chair, holding some of the grenades. "I'm going to stay here, and wait for my colleges." "Well, okay." Gordon grabbed the rest of the grenades, the pistol ammo on the rack, and left.

            Gordon climbed back down the ladder and went down the only hallway he hadn't yet been down. 'It's quiet. Too quiet.' He got his gun ready. *BEEWWWSSSHHHZZZ* The sound of something teleporting  came from behind a closed steel door. The door started buckling as something of immense strength pounded on it from the other side. 'Time to try out the burst feature.' Gordon flicked the selector to the down position.

            The door burst open as the creature behind it rammed it. 'That's one of the things I saw in the alien world!' Gordon's thoughts were interrupted by arcs of green electricity gathered by the creature. He squeezed the trigger. *PAPAPAPAPAPAPAPA CLICK* A hail of bullets came flying from the Glock and rammed into the creature at point-blank range. After less than a second, the slide clicked back from a smoking barrel and the creature was dead. "HOLY SHIT!!!"

            Gordon stared down at the still smoking gun. 'That wasn't a burst. That was full auto! Thank you whoever invented this gun.' He ejected the empty clip and replaced it with a full one. Stepping into the closet, he found two more spare clips for his gun. 'I've got 102 spare rounds for this thing now. With the auto feature, I am set.' Gordon put it back to single shot and proceeded down the hall.

            A scraping sound brought Gordon's attention to his left. He saw a zombie push off a floor grating and pull itself out of the sewer below. 'These things are smart too.' He took aim and quickly killed the creature. *SCREEE* The sound of a headcrab from his right caused Gordon to spin and nearly let off a round. From behind a drum the crab leaped out at a dumpster. 'That's odd.' The lid of the dumpster opened slightly and he saw a scientist hiding in there.

            Gordon killed the headcrab and banged on the dumpster. "Hey, it's okay now. It's dead, you can come out." "I refuse to move another step!" Gordon shrugged and left the scientist alone. He back to the door leading forward, but it was jammed shut. 'Now how am I going to go on?' He looked down at the still bleeding corpse of the zombie he shot to death. He then looked for a grating on the floor.

            Using his crowbar, Gordon pried open a grating on the floor. As soon as he dropped down, he was attacked by a headcrab that was waiting in ambush. Giving his crowbar a few hefty swings, the crab was dead. 'Now to get out of here.' After a little exploring, Gordon found an emergency overflow valve. Giving it a few turns, he opened the gates. But instead of a new path opening, water started to flood the area he was in.

            'Crap!' The waters were forcing Gordon back. Unable to literally stand, he started treading the water and searched for another way out. 'I've gotta hurry!' He swam in every direction, desperately seeking the way out. 'There!' Gordon spotted an opening right before the water completely filled the pipes. Despite the weight of the hazard suit, he managed to get to the opening before he ran out of breath.

            Shaking the water off of his face, Gordon jogged down the corridor. When he came upon a metal bridge, another creature teleported in above it. The forces of gravity took effect and the creature fell down hard on the bridge. So hard, that it shattered, sending the creature to its doom. Gordon cautiously put his weight on the bridge that was still intact by him. He could feel it groan, not a very good sign.

            'I'd better hurry.' Gordon looked around for something to jump on to. He spotted some piping to his right. Letting his suit absorb his gun, he jumped on to the station for the pumps. His eyes trailed the path he had to take to get to the other side of the room. 'It's going to be dangerous and risky, but I have to if I'm going to get help.' Gordon put his feet on the pipes, testing their strength. With his back against the wall, he slowly edged his way across.

            Gordon never took his eyes off of the pit below him. It was deep enough so that no light shone from down there. He inched along the pipes beads of sweat forming on his face. His mind was a blank, every inch of his being focused on making it across. Gordon made it to the first junction of the pipes. 'Halfway there.' He put his feet back on the pipes and started sliding once again.

            After what seemed like hours, Gordon finally reached the end. He let out his breath in a loud whoosh as he slid down the ventilation shaft. 'Now for the hard part.' He had to make the final jump to the landing below him. If he miscalculated it, he would miss or slam into the wall. Either way, that would be the end of Gordon Freeman. He primed himself for the jump, the pit of his stomach as cold as ice. He pushed his legs off and went through the air. For a moment, it seemed to him that he was suspended in motion. Then he landed on the solid concrete, tucking his body and rolling.

            For a moment, Gordon just laid there breathing. 'You did it Gordon. Now get up and go on.' His body ached and pleaded for rest, but he wouldn't allow it. He picked himself off of the ground and walked on. The hallway ended in another broken walkway over a small canal. As he looked below, Gordon could see another one of those creatures that had fallen down the pit before attacking headcrabs. He watched in wonder as the creature spat what looked like globs of saliva at the crabs. A few of the tried to get away, but the thing ran up to them and hit them with its powerful tentacles, blowing it apart.

            Gordon got his Glock ready, took aim at the creature and fired. *POW POW* It leaped a foot in the air, taken off guard by his sudden attack. 'That thing has powerful muscles.' His scientist mind re-emerged from the depths and started wondering about these creatures internal organs. Gordon was distracted long enough for the creature to spit one large glob at him. The projectile hit him in his cheek, instantly producing a burning sensation.

            "GAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!" Gordon let out a scream and dropped his gun on the floor. He put his gloved hands up to his face to quickly scraped off the mucous. 'That things saliva must be acidic!' The pain ebbed and his HUD registered major damage. Anger over whelmed Gordon as he picked up the Glock and started firing at the creature. "HHHAAAAAAAA!!" He let out as cry as the bullets flew through the air. Once again the creature was caught off guard and leaped, but Gordon did not pause.

            The gun kept on firing at the creature, never ceasing. *POW POW POW POW POW POW POW POW POW POW POW POW CLICK* Gordon had emptied the entire clip into the creature, but kept on trying to fire. *CLICK CLICK CLICK*  He ceased his yelling as rational thought once again entered his mind. 'My God, what have I become?' Gordon fell down on his rear as he gave his current situation some serious thought.

            Gordon looked at his gun closely. Its slide was still locked back, demanding a new clip. 'When I woke up this morning, I had no love for guns, but here I am now, depending on one for survival. I was just a simple scientist like almost everyone else, but now I'm playing war and I'm the soldier.' Gordon's expression changed from one of disbelief to firm resolution. "If I'm going to survive this, I'm going to have to become a soldier. A scientist wouldn't survive this intact. I will survive." He replaced the clip in the Glock as he looked to the future with hope.

            'Now to take care of this wound.' Gordon looked around for anything to use. 'Nothing but boxes.' He took out his crowbar with one thought on his mind. 'Smashy-smashy time.' When the crowbar ceased its swinging, he'd found four batteries that where promptly drained and one medkit. Gordon opened up the kit and rummaged around for some burn ointment as well as some anti-bacterial. He found them both and applied them. 'That should ease the pain as well as keep it from getting infected.

            Looking over the edge, Gordon saw the area was clear. He leaped down into the water. As soon as he broke through the water's surface, he saw that there was danger below as well. 'Crap! A grinder!' Gordon felt himself being pulled down into metal teeth of the grinder. His body had no more adrenaline left to give him, the supply being long spent. Slowly but surely, he managed to break free of the vacuum.

            Just as Gordon got free of the current, he felt something wrap around his torso. 'What the hell?!?' He was being pulled up by what appeared to be a long, thin although strong tongue. Casting his view up, Gordon saw a different creature, apparently immobile puling to a mouth full of sharp teeth. "Not today!" He bent his elbow and pointed it up. 'Risky, but it's either that or certain death.' *POW POW POW POW POW POW POW POW* The creature let go of Gordon and he plunged back into the water.

            Looking up, Gordon could see the creature regurgitating its other meals as undigested body parts as well as at least a pint of blood came out of its mouth. The creature then entered what appeared to be some kind of regenerative coma. Avoiding the other 'barnacle' creatures, Gordon made it to the ladder and hauled himself up. He walked over to a nearby medstation and hooked himself up to it. The aches in his body went away, as well as the stinging on his face. 'Good to go.'

            Gordon jogged past the canal and went through the only door on that side. He went through the hall and found himself in another wide open room. "No way. No FUCKIN' way!" He was over looking a vast cavern, nothing filling the void except a few large crates. Gordon looked all around for another way to the platform on the other side, but couldn't find one. 'I must be going nuts!' Putting away his Glock, he climbed up the two ladders to his right.

            Standing at the top of the walkway, Gordon looked at the task before. 'This is really starting to suck.' Grabbing onto the cable for support, he hauled himself onto the crate which surprisingly didn't move. Gathering his courage, Gordon leapt from one crate to the next, always aiming for the support cable. He finally made to safety on the other end. Looking back on what he had done, Gordon was surprised that he had even been able to do it. 'These kinds of situations always push people beyond their limits.'

            Gordon jogged through the hallway and out through the door. He found himself on the other side of the broken walkway. Shaking his head in amazement, Gordon took the path to the right reaching an elevator. Pressing the button, he walked inside and took out his gun. "Going up."


	4. Office Complex Pt 1

            Gordon pressed the button on the elevator. The doors shut and he began his upward journey towards the surface. Checking his ammunition, he was confidant that he would be able to survive whatever was above him. Gordon heard the elevator ping and the doors opened up. As he stepped out, he saw a scientist being pulled up into the rafters above.

            Gordon's mind immediately began to develop the "If I had been quicker..." scenario, but he quickly shook it out. 'I can't develop a guilt complex. That won't help anybody.' Looking around Gordon saw an employee lounge to his right. Realizing that it was a logical place to head if there was any trouble, he tried to open the doors.

            'Damn. Locked.' Inside, Gordon heard footsteps and the sound of something breaking through the ceiling. Peering through the grating on the door, he managed to catch a glimpse of someone being pulled up. Trying the doors again and reaching the same results as before, Gordon turned around to find a way forward.

            Further down the hall, Gordon saw a small group of headcrabs moving towards him. 'Not more of these things.' He got his Glock ready but before he could open fire, an exposed wire sent out a bolt of electricity, frying the nearest crab. "Shit!" Gordon took a step back as the cycle repeated itself. The crabs continued, oblivious to the danger.

            Each one got zapped by an arc of electricity, acting like an intense heat source blowing the headcrabs apart. After the final one was dead, Gordon cautiously moved forward. When he was within one foot of the wire, a bolt destroyed a section of the floor tiling in front of him. With the direct path ahead blocked, he had to find a different way.

            Looking around, Gordon saw a small ventilation shaft covering at his feet. Taking out his crowbar, he pried the cover off and managed to work himself into the shaft. 'Boy is it cramped in here.' Gordon thought. 'I've barely got enough room to move.' The shaft split off to his right and left. He took the right path since it lead to where the lounge was.

            The shaft was dark and Gordon's body blocked most of the light. He activated his suit's flashlight, the area around the inverted y lighting up, sending forth a steady beam. Using his arms and legs, Gordon wormed his way through the shaft. After a few minutes of crawling, he found the shaft cover to the lounge.

            Gordon managed to punch it out, and he exited the shaft above a pair of vending machines. Swinging his legs around, he jumped off of the machines, turned off the flashlight, and scanned the room. The first thing that caught Gordon's eye was the extended tongue of a barnacle. 'I hate these things.' Taking out his Glock, he aimed up at the body of the creature and fired.

            *POW POW POW POW* After four shots, the creature retracted its tongue and regurgitated its last meal. "UUUHHHH!!!!" The sound of someone moaning at the gunshots brought Gordon's attention to the other end of the room. He ran over to a man he recognized as Dr. Niles, the man who showed him around on his arrival to Black Mesa.

            "Doctor! I'm glad to see that I'm not the only scientist who is still alive." Dr. Niles looked relieved as Gordon stepped from the shadows. "Gordon. If I had known it was you, I would've let you in. Everyone's heading for the surface, but they're crazy, not to stay put. Someone's bound to come by and rescue us." "Yeah, well just in case, I'm going to get help. But your idea is good, so just stay here."

            Gordon saw the door leading to the power controls. Opening it up, he pulled the lever and shut off the power for that are. As he was leaving, he was ambushed by another barnacle that was promptly dispatched. 'Those things are pretty easy to kill.' Gordon opened the lock and entered the hall again.

            Gordon jogged down the hall, not even pausing when he reached the formerly live wire. The door at the other end was jammed shut, so he shattered the window next to it, his suit protecting him from the glass. Gordon saw a window to his right, smashed and bloody. He couldn't see any signs of blood on this side, so he assumed that the person was alright.

            Walking forward, Gordon saw that the room on the other side of the window was full of water. A ceiling light dangled from above, the distance between it and the water small enough to create a bridge of electricity making the water dangerous. 'I should find another way.' To Gordon's left were a set of doors and a hallway leading further down.

            He tried the doors first, finding them locked. 'That way's out.' Gordon looked down the other hallway to see the way blocked by stacks of boxes. Sighing, he took the crowbar back out and set to work smashing the boxes. Ten minutes and one headcrab later, the floor was littered with wood boards.

            Gordon worked his shoulder around in its socket for a minute. 'My arm's starting to get sore. I'm going to have to take a rest sooner or later.' He walked down the hall and saw something that made his eyes light up. Lying in an open box rested a shotgun with a box of ammo next to it. 'YES!'

            Gordon put the crowbar away and lifted the shotgun up, examining it. 'Franchie S.P.A.S. 12. The rear part of it folds up, and it looks like someone put four shells in it.' His HUD showed that it held eight of them. He spotted a button above a second trigger. 'This thing can fire two at once!' Gordon dumped the box of shells into the slot in his suit so that it absorbed them.

            As he was taking the shells out of the foldable stock and putting them in his suit, Gordon heard a noise to his left. A security guard stood behind a locked gate, unaware of the zombie that was coming out of the room behind him. "LOOK OUT!" The guard whipped around, his hand immediately going to his gun.

            The guard brought his Glock up to his eye and aimed at what was the creature's head. *POW POW POW POW POW POW* The zombie shook in place before collapsing. Gordon let out a breath of relief. "Whoa, that was close." The guard said. He walked over to the latch and opened the door.

            The door caught the zombie's body and pushed it into the wall. The grating virtually destroyed the body. 'Eeewwww.' Gordon thought was he walked over. The guard made his own comment. "WHAT is that smell?" "I'm guessing what's left of that." Gordon took the shells that were in the crate that the guard was standing next to, then investigated the back room.

            Gordon saw that it was cramped back here, this place meant to be but a temporary shelter. More importantly however, he spotted another box of shells, as well as a clip for his handgun. 'This is great! I've got tons of ammo now!' Gordon heard the shattering of metal above him and turned around just in time to be hit by a headcrab.

            "AAAHHH!" Gordon knocked the thing away with his gun. "TAKE THIS!" He aimed his shotgun down at the headcrab. *BLAM* He felt his arms jerk back slightly, the recoil less than he expected. The headcrab's body was gone, the ten gauge shell utterly destroyed it. Gordon remembered that a shotgun didn't reload itself and had to be pumped. *SHUNK-CHUNK*

            He took out a single shell and inserted it into the tube. After using a nearby medical kit's resources to heal what little damage the headcrab did, Gordon walked back outside. "Sir." The guard said as he walked by. He nodded and walked away. After Gordon had walked back to the junction, he saw a closet to his right that he had missed.

            'Damn, locked.' He thought as he tried to open the door. Shards of wood flew from the door as a zombie tried to impale Gordon who backed up just in time. He could hear the zombie walk around in the small area, taking out its frustration on whatever it could. Gordon stood there, ready for the zombie when it came out.

            After destroying a metal rack, the zombie attacked the door again, destroying it with two swipes. Gordon grinned as he aimed the S.P.A.S. at the thing's head. "See ya." *BLAM* But to his surprise, the zombie was still alive. 'Shit.' *SHUNK-CHUNK BLAM SHUNK-CHUNK* Finally, it fell down dead.

            "Whew." Gordon took a quick look in the closet and took the two clips lying on the shelf. 'The only place left to go is in that room.' Walking to it, he looked through the broken window again. He spotted a headcrab sitting on a table on the other side of the room. Gordon took out his pistol, and killed it. *POW POW* The force of the 9mm bullets flipped it over on its back.

            Gordon climbed through the window onto a table that was conveniently on the other side. Jumping from table to table, he reached the light switch and turned the lights off. With the electrical current gone, Gordon jumped in the water and turned on his flashlight. Using his crowbar, he opened up the nearby ventilation shaft. As soon as he climbed in, he was attacked by a headcrab.

            Gordon immediately backed out to get some room. Taking out the shotgun, he proceeded to blast the crab. *BLAM SHUNK-CHUNK* He climbed back in, and killed two more headcrabs. *BLAM SHUNK-CHUNK BLAM SHUNK-CHUNK* Gordon waited another second before crawling onward. After a minute, he heard a fan whirling close by. Looking around a corner, he saw that part of the shaft had broken open.

            'I'd better be careful, or I'll lose my head.' Gordon went forward, always looking for another monster. *SPLURCH* He looked up to see the remains of a headcrab fly off of the fan. Another crab fell down only to meet the same fate as the first one. Laughing, Gordon went on. He didn't have too much further to crawl before he fell through the ceiling.

            "OOFFF!" Gordon landed on his chest, knocking the wind out of him. After resting a moment, he got back up and looked around. 'Huh, figures.' He was on the other side of the doors that he couldn't open before. Walking over, Gordon undid the lock and pushed them open. Shaking his head, he walked down the other end of the hallway.

            After Gordon had only walked about twelve feet, the ceiling ahead of him collapsed and a trio of headcrabs came with it. Switching to his Glock, they were quickly dispatched. *POW POW POW POW POW POW POW POW* 'I'm getting quite good at killing.' Gordon thought, with slight reservations. He tried the door at the other end to find it locked as well. Looking around, he saw a ladder extend from above the ceiling to just below it.

            Gordon walked over, jumped, and tried to grab onto it. 'Damn, it's just out of my reach.' He looked around for anything that he could use and immediately spotted the two metal boxes. The smaller box Gordon could just pickup, but he could barely move the larger box. Looking up, he climbed onto the boxes and up the ladder.

            Ducking, Gordon moved into the crawl space and popped out the shaft cover to his left. He poked his head through and spotted a headcrab in front of him. He pulled his head back up, turned around, and backed down into the space below him. Gordon immediately shot the headcrab. *POW POW POW POW CLICK* He ejected the empty magazine and replaced it.

            Gordon heard the sound of someone screaming behind him. Whirling around, he spotted a fellow scientist running from a headcrab. *WHEOOO* Gordon heard one of Black Mesa's automated turret's come to life. 'It's a good thing that they're still working.' *DATDATDATDATDATDATDATDATDAT* He watched in horror as the turret fired upon the scientist who only had enough time to scream once before dying.

            Gordon punched the vent wall in frustration. 'Damn! The defenses are screwed up as well!' *DATDATDATDATDAT* He watched as the weapon killed the headcrab before going into standby mode. *BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP* Gordon looked through the shaft to look for any possible cover from the turret. Sure enough, to his right was a metal crate.

            Gordon kicked off the cover and made a dash for the protection of the crate. *WHEEEE DATDATDATDAT* The turret locked onto him and started firing off its ammo. The bullets hit the space where Gordon had been a mere moment ago, ricocheting of the floor. He made it to the protection of the metal crate, the bullets having no effect.

            Gordon looked to the hall to his right. Without a thought, he made a dash for it, only to be forced back when he felt a bullet come right through a wooden crate and hit his arm. "AUUGHHH! GOD DAMMIT!" Gordon leaned back onto the metal crate. Still clutching at his arm, he craned his neck around the corner, risking his life to see if there was anyway to disable the out of control turret.

            'Shit, I won't be able to reach the shut off switch.' Gordon thought. He began to look through his weapons categories for something to use. 'Crowbar, yeah right. Pistol, can't touch it. Shotgun, too far away.' It finally hit Gordon. 'Duh, my grenades. I forgot all about them.' Putting his pistol away, he took out a single grenade.

            Gordon saw a doorway in front of him. 'No choice. If I stay, the explosion will kill me.' Pain forgotten, he turned around and quickly looked above him. His mind clear, Gordon pulled the pin on the grenade, tossed it at the turret, and made for the doorway like a bat out of hell. *WHEEE DATDATDATDATDAT*

            Gordon ignored the pain his arm gave from moving it, running faster than he thought he could. He reached the doorway and leaped behind the wall to his right. *BOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMM* Gordon felt the shockwave hit his body, sending him flying against the opposite wall. It was too much for him to take. He passed out.

            Gordon slowly opened his eyes, wondering at first if he was still alive. The fresh pain from his arm wound confirmed that. "Ahhh shit, how long has it been?" Head pounding, he climbed to his feet and looked around. Gordon was in a storage room, in front of him a S.P.A.S. was laying in an open crate along with a box of shells. Stumbling over, he took the box and emptied the shotgun of its shells.

            Gordon took out his own shotgun and reloaded it, remembering the zombie from before. He walked out of the room and looked at the destruction that he had caused. The room was in utter shambles, the walls barely holding together. Gordon was stunned at the state the room was in. "Holy shit." He let out a breath that felt like he had been holding forever. Calmly, he walked down the hall to his left.

            As soon as Gordon rounded the corner, he spotted a group of headcrabs standing in his way. Although he was still somewhat dazed from the explosion, he aimed his shotgun and fired. *BLAM SHUNK-CHUNK BLAM SHUNK-CHUNK BLAM SHUNK-CHUNK* A headcrab that had been sitting on top of a nearby crate leaped at Gordon. *SCRE BLAM SHUNK-CHUNK* There wasn't anything left to hit the floor. He aimed the S.P.A.S. at the last crab and squeezed the trigger. *BLAM SHUNK-CHUNK*

            The smoking shell casing hit the floor and the room was silent once again. Gordon breathed slowly and started reloading the gun. Looking around to see if there was any other threat, he walked onward. While he was climbing a flight of nearby stairs, Gordon heard the sound of a weapon being fired. *POW POW POW POW POW* Urging his aching legs faster, he reached the top of the stairs and saw another security guard shooting at a small group of headcrabs.

            The guard shot the last crab dead when Gordon walked up to him. "Hey, do mind helping me out? I'm not in the best traveling condition." The guard saw that he wasn't kidding. "Yeah, we might stand a better chance if we team up." He nodded. "Thanks." With Gordon in the lead, he and the security guard walked down the small hallway.

            After a few moments, the ceiling above Gordon collapsed and two headcrabs attacked them. *POW BLAM POW SHUNK-CHUNK POW* His HEV suits' voice sounded an alarm. "Warning, blood loss detected." Gordon ignored the computer and pressed on. "UUUHHHHH!" He heard someone moan to his right. Quickly looking, he saw, through a window, a scientist run over and turn off the lights in the room.

            Gordon and the guard continued down the hall and a few moments later, ran into more aliens. He recognized them as more of the creatures that he killed a while ago. *POW POW POW* The guard opened fire on the only visible creature. Gordon aimed the shotgun at its head and squeezed the trigger. *BLAM* Against his expectations, he didn't kill the thing. He did however, wound it bad enough for it to run away. *KKRAACC*

            The sound of another of the creatures building up a charge brought Gordon's attention to his left. He immediately saw it, aimed at its head, and fired. *CLICK* His eyes widened in horror as Gordon remembered that he forgot to pump it. *SHUNK-CHUNK* It was too little, to late however. The creature released its charge and he was hit.

            Gordon fell to the ground in agony, the electricity causing him to spasm. He could see the monster running over to his body. 'This is it. I'm going to die.' He shut his eyes and waited for the end. *POW POW POW POW POW POW POW POW POW POW* Gordon opened his eyes and saw the thing fall down, bullet holes marking its body. He forced himself to get up and drive on.

            He picked up his S.P.A.S. from where he had dropped it. *POW POW POW* Gordon heard the guard kill the creature that he had shot before. The guard reloaded his Glock and looked at one of the things. "Huh, that'll look nice in my trophy room." Gordon didn't have any comment on that. As he reloaded his shotgun, he remembered that scientist from before.

            'We should go and help him.' Gordon motioned for the guard to follow him. Walking down the hall, they kept their eyes open for any sign of aliens. Gordon heard some gurgling to his left, just around the corner. He motioned for the guard to stop and be quiet. The guard didn't respond but instead just got his gun ready. Gordon put his back to wall, waiting for another sound.

            He didn't have to wait to long, as the creature continued to gurgle. He whirled around the corner, using the heel of his foot as a pivot. Gordon thumbed the button for the second barrel as he came face to face with the monster. *BL-BLAM SHUNK-CHUNK* The shotgun kicked up slightly from the force of two shells being fired, but it was worth it.

            The monster's head had been taken clean off, and it collapsed in a heap on the floor. *CRASH* Gordon looked to his right to see another one standing over a shattered window. It started building up electricity for its attack, but he was too quick for it. He whirled back around the corner as it fired, the electricity harmlessly hitting the wall.

            Gordon nodded to the guard, an unspoken message traveling between them. He switched the S.P.A.S. back to single shot and kneeled on the ground as the guard aimed at where the creature was going to show. Gordon's guess was correct as the monster came through the doorway. *BLAM POW POW POW SHUNK POW CHUNK*

            The alien didn't know what hit him. It flipped on its back, letting out a death gargle. "Yeah, bring it on!" The guard shouted at their victory. Gordon smiled, feeling like he hadn't done that in a million years. As he was reloading his shotgun however, he got a big surprise. *POW POW* Gordon looked up to see another one standing in another doorway further down the hall.

            The guard continued firing, the creature standing there in a sort of surprised way. Gordon took advantage of that, using it to get close enough to do serious damage. *BLAM SHUNK-CHUNK* It collapsed on the ground, blood pouring out of the numerous holes in its body. They reloaded their weapons and continued.

            Gordon was the first to see another monster in the hall. Using the same strategy as before, he lured it out to where he and the security guard would ambush it. Once again, Gordon wasn't disappointed. *POW POW BLAM POW SHUNK POW CHUNK POW POW* The creature fell forward and sprawled on the floor.

            Gordon cautiously looked through the doorway, relieved when he didn't spot any moving threats. 'That barnacle will be easily taken out.' He walked up to it, pointed his shotgun at its body, and squeezed the trigger. *BLAM SHUNK-CHUNK* Gordon watched as hit dry heaved, throwing up little more than bile. He walked into the room and looked around.

            Gordon ran over to the window on the other side of the room and turned on the lights. Turning around, he spotted a large medkit lying on the table, immediately draining it of what little resources it had. "Are you okay? Most people are heading to the surface for help." Gordon asked the scientist standing behind him. "I'm not so sure if I want to go to the surface. What if the world finds out what we were doing do here?"

            Gordon didn't have an answer for that. "Well, I'm not sure. But we need to stay alive, so come with us." The scientist could see his wisdom in that. "Fine, you won't even know I'm here." Gordon nodded and walked off with the scientist and security guard following him. They walked through the halls a little carelessly, confidant that they had cleared out all of the aliens.

            As soon as they stepped into the employee lounge, the group was ambush by a few headcrabs. *POW POW BLAM SHUNK-CHUNK* "AAAHHHHHH!!!!" While Gordon and the guard killed the crabs, the scientist ran away. *POW POW POW* Gordon ran off to find his fellow scientist. He didn't have to look too far, as the scientist was simply hiding in the nearby office.

            As they rejoined the security guard, Gordon spotted a maintenance sign. "Hey, hold on a sec. I'm going to check that out." Standing on a couch, he pulled off the cover in the ceiling and climbed up the ladder he found. When Gordon reached the top, he immediately grabbed the shotgun ammo he found up there. *WHHEEEEEE* The sound of a turret starting up got his attention.

            Looking around quickly, Gordon spotted the emergency shutoff switch. He flipped it to the off position and the turret promptly retreated back into the ceiling. 'At least I can still turn them off.' Gordon climbed back down the ladder and rejoined his other two partners, who had started a conversation. "Are you sure this is the right way out?" The guard asked. "Positively." The scientist responded.

            "Okay, let's go." Gordon told them as he hopped off the ladder. He took the lead, with the guard following closely. They rounded the corner and stumbled upon a pair of aliens. Gordon hit the floor and aimed at the closest one. *BL-BLAM SHUNK-CHUNK* The monster took it in the chest and went down. *POW POW POW* The guard was firing at the second alien when it started charging.

            *KKRRAAACCC* Gordon aimed his shotgun at it and fired at the last moment. *BLAM SHUNK-CHUNK* The alien was blown backwards, its blood splattering the wall behind it. Gordon got off the ground and was reloaded when he thought of something. 'I don't remember putting it on double. How did I just shoot two at once?' As soon as he thought he already knew the answer. 'It's becoming like second nature to me, killing. I wonder how long this will go on?'

            Slightly disturbed, Gordon noticed the soda machine he was standing next. Suddenly he felt VERY thirsty. Pressing the button, he picked up and opened the can and started drinking. The cool liquid splashed Gordon's parched throat, relieving the dryness. He noticed his health go up by one on the HUD, but he didn't care too much about that.

            'Aaahhhhh.' Gordon wiped off his mouth and continued on, almost walking right into the tongue of a barnacle. Cursing himself for being reckless, he got out the Glock and shot it to death. *POW POW POW POW CLICK* Gordon reloaded his clip and was walking up the stairs when he heard a voice.

            "I just over heard a secure access transmission. Soldiers have arrived and they're coming to rescue us. Of course, I have my doubts that we'll live long enough to greet them." A scientist who had been hiding behind a trash can told them. Gordon was relieved. "Great, now all I have to do is find them and then I can get out this hell hole."

            He turned to his two companions. "Stay here, you can help protect each other." They both nodded. "See you later." Switching to his shotgun, Gordon climbed up the stairs alone. When he had reached the top, he was ambushed by a pack of headcrabs. *SCREE* Three of them jumped him at once. Gordon managed to blast one of them with the S.P.A.S, but the other two hit him in the head.

            "Ughh..." He was knocked backward and fell down the stairs. *BEEP BEEP BEEP* Gordon's suit sounded an alarm. "Warning, vital signs dropping. Seek medical attention." He could barely hear his body crash at the base of the stairs or the sound of the guard shooting his gun. "Let me through, I'm a doctor!" The scientist who been hiding rushed over.

            Gordon felt himself being pushed on his back. "Here, let me help you that." The other scientist came over as well. He kneeled on the ground and looked over Gordon's wounds. 'I wonder how he's been able to stand this much pain? The HEV suit only injects morphine in the case of a major bone fracture.' Working with his colleague, they attended to his injuries.

            Gordon's mind drifted, he remembered his first day at MIT. Somehow, he managed to smile through the pain. He remembered how Dr. Kleiner had greeted him. "Good morning Mr. Freeman. I hope you're ready for a whole new world." Gordon didn't think that knowledge would've ever led to this type of thing.

            He shook the haze from his mind and opened his eyes. He looked up at the scientists who were working on him. Gordon tried to get up, but they restrained him. "Hold still, this won't hurt a bit." One of them said, as he injected Gordon. He felt a slight prick through the suit, but nothing more. "Thanks." He managed to spit out.

            Gordon picked himself off the floor. He spotted his shotgun lying on the ground next to him. Picking it up, he walked over to the medstation and drained it of its resources. Taking a deep breath, Gordon reloaded his shotgun and picked up right where he had left off.

_Yeash, sorry about this chapter taking so long, I've been distracted. Thanks for all the great reviews though! One request however. Can anyone send me (e-mail) what it says on the inside of the Half-life box? I threw mine out a long time ago. Ciao!_


	5. Office Complex Pt 2

            Gordon climbed up the two flights of stairs. Above he could see a glass panel, behind it the turret that he had deactivated earlier. After easily dispatching a zombie, with a little help from a nearby explosive crate, he ran into a pair of the shockers that were heading down the corridor. *BL-BLAM SHUNK-CHUNK* Gordon cut down one of the shockers and the other one fled. He quickly ran it down and killed it. He reloaded his S.P.A.S. as he walked through a nearby door. After loading in the last shell, he looked up and spotted a security guarding standing near a medstation.

            Gordon recognized him. "Marc, you're still alive!" The guard's name was Marc Laidlaw. They had played a few poker games together with a few other scientists and guards. "Gordon, what the hell are you doing down here? Get top side! I hear troops are coming in to rescue us!"

"I just found out and I'm on my way now. I thought you were dead for sure."

"Nope, I'm still hanging in there. I've had to kill a few of those bullsquids and crabs though."

"A bullsquid? What's a bullsquid?"

"One of those things that shoots acid at you." Gordon nodded, he could never forget those.

"Marc, how about you and I pool our bullets to escape?"

"Sounds great to me. There's a makeshift infirmary up ahead. I'm sure that they'll appreciate some help."

            Gordon grinned holding up his shotgun. "We're all the help they'll ever need." The two friends walked over to the infirmary and were met with the horrible sight of a pair of zombies feasting on the bodies of the remaining scientists. "GOOD GOD!" Marc yelled out as he unholstered his Glock. Gordon wasn't all that pleased either. Rushing ahead, Marc started shooting bullets at the zombies. *POW POW POW* "Open fire Gordon! Open fire!" Just then the ceiling above them collapsed as a group of three headcrabs fell down.

            "Marc, run for cover!" Marc glanced behind him to see Gordon pull the pin on a grenade. Dropping his pistol, he ran back up the stairs, down the hallway, and down a ramp. A few seconds later he heard an explosion. *BBBOOOOOMMM* 'Damn, where the hell did Gordon get grenades?' Walking down the ramp, wiping dust off of his HEV suit, came Gordon. "Where did you get those?!?" "Back near Sector C. Found them behind a locked door." They were interrupted by a crashing sound to their right. Quickly looking, Gordon and Marc saw a bullsquid standing behind a bunch of barrels.

            Without a word, Gordon pushed Marc down and called up his shotgun. The bullsquid spat a glob of saliva at them, missing Gordon by a mile, Marc's head by inches. Gordon ran up to the monster and shot it at point-blank range. *BLAM SHUNK-CHUNK* The creature jumped up into the air the same as the last time he killed one. When it hit the ground, it spun around on its two legs, knocking Gordon off his feet. *BEEP BEEP BEEP* "Warning, major lacerations detected." His HEV suit's voice said.

            He was laying on the ground stunned and the bullsquid, sensing that its prey was injured, walked up to finish the kill. Gordon's vision cleared just in time to see the monster looming over him. All of a sudden the barrel of the S.P.A.S. was sticking down the throat of the bullsquid. "EAT THIS!!!" He squeezed the trigger. *BLAM* The buckshot of the ten gauge shell tore up the creature's internal organs and ripped a hole out its back. Without a sound, the thing fell limp. Gordon pulled his shotgun out of the bullsquid's mouth and wiped it clean of its blood.

            Throughout all of this Marc just stared, his jaw almost touching the ground. When Gordon got up and reloaded his shotgun, Marc found the ability to speak and move again. "What the hell was that!?!" He said as he picked himself off the ground. "What was what?"

"When you last went through the hazard course a few days ago, you came back exhausted. Now you didn't even break a sweat."

"Oh yeah. Heh, it's funny how some people change under different circumstances. Now where's the quickest way up?"

"Well, there is that door near the infirmary, but we can't get through."

"Why not?"

"The last person to go through there locked the door behind him and that was before we got there. About half an hour ago a small group of people went through the freezer to try and find another way around. We haven't heard from them since they left."

Gordon formulated a plan in his head. "Okay, we'll try that route. With what I've got we should be able to take care of anything we come across."

            Marc brushed himself off and picked up a bunch of grenades sitting on a nearby ammo crate while Gordon picked up the shotgun shells lying around. Marc hung the grenades off of his belt and tossed one of the remaining ones to Gordon. *BEEWWSHHZZZ BEWSSHHHZZ* The sound of two aliens teleporting in brought Gordon into 'combat mode'. The two shockers started building up their attack. Marc took cover behind a barrel while Gordon hid behind a crate. *KRAC KRAC* The bolts of green electricity harmlessly flew past them and hit the wall.

            Gordon waited for one of the shockers to walk into his line of sight. He didn't long to wait. *BL-BLAM SHUNK-CHUNK* The first creature hit the ground like a sack of potatoes. Its companion however, stayed but. 'Stubborn bastard, aren't ya?' Gordon turned around and quickly jumped up from his crouch. The other alien spotted at once and began to charge its attack. It wasn't given the opportunity to finish. *BL-BLAM SHUNK-CHUNK* It gurgled in slight surprise, and then quickly died.

            Marc got up from his hiding place and Gordon reloaded the S.P.A.S. "Jesus Christ Gordon! You really HAVE changed!" Gordon ignored him and simply motioned for him to follow. When they got back to center room, Marc was in shock. The only remains of the people and zombies were the blood stains on the floor and walls. Swallowing hard, Marc went to unholster his piece when he felt it missing. "What the-?" Gordon turned to him. "What's wrong?"

            Marc slapped himself in the head. "Ah, dammit. When you told me to run I dropped my pistol."

"Well, where is it then?"

"Uhhh, there, there, over there." He began pointing in random directions. "Let me do the fighting then." Gordon replied, shaking his head. Using his crowbar to tear down the boarded up doorway, Gordon took point with his shotgun. "Marc, didn't you hear any screaming coming from the other scientists?"

"Yeah, but it was only for a few seconds."

"Why didn't you see what was going on then?!"

"A few of the people that came by were pretty banged up and I thought they were the ones screaming because the docs had to fix a broken bone or something."

            Gordon didn't say anything after that. 'It makes sense. After all, it WAS an infirmary.' They rounded the corner and spotted two zombies tearing a pair of dead scientists apart. Gordon quickly dispatched them. "Here's the entrance to the freezer." Marc pulled down the lever and they both entered. The door quickly slammed shut behind them. The sound was close enough to a gun shot to cause Gordon and Marc to turn around. "Man, that's becoming a bad habit." Marc took off his helmet and ran his hand through his blond hair. "AAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!"

            Gordon ran towards the source of the scream, unconsciously reloading his weapon. A scientist, frightened out of his mind, nearly ran straight into him. Gordon saw what the man was running from. *BL-BLAM SHUNK-CHUNK BL-BLAM SHUNK-CHUNK* Marc ran in just in time to see a bullsquid give its death rattle. Gordon looked to where his coworker ran from. "Well, we found out what happened to that team that went looking for another way out." Lying inside were the remains of another scientist and security guard. Both of them had some of their limbs torn off and bones removed. Marc ran into a corner and threw up.

            Gordon, on the other hand, walked up and took what he could. He drained a battery of its power and was about to take the pistol when he remembered that Marc had lost his. He walked over to where Marc was currently wiping his mouth of bile. He looked up at Gordon and saw him stick out the pistol. "Take it. You'll need it. The other guy doesn't anymore." Reluctantly, Marc grabbed it and checked it out. He pulled back the slide and saw an unspent 9mm round pop out. 'At least he went down fighting.'

            Loading a fresh clip, Marc went back to check up on the scientist while Gordon scouted around. Nearby a small pile of crates were torn apart as a bullsquid started spitting at a bunch of headcrabs. He watched from the shadows, laughing to himself. 'These things have really terrible aim.' The smirk left Gordon's face. 'I should be one to talk. Without the HUD, I probably couldn't hit anything either.' Eventually the bullsquid killed the headcrabs and started walking over to feed upon the remains. Moving in a crouch to keep his suit in 'stealth mode', he snuck up behind the bullsquid, aimed, and fired. *BL-BLAM SHUNK-CHUNK*

            The monster was caught off guard and instantly died. Standing up, Gordon reloaded the S.P.A.S. and looked around for any other immediate threat. Although he didn't spot anything that would attack, he did see a lever on the nearby. With a shrug, Gordon flipped it up, not having a clue as to what it did. Above him a cart started moving along its track. 'At least nothing exploded.' Moving his head in a circle, cracking his neck in several places, he searched the freezer. Beyond a few headcrabs that were quickly disposed of, the freezer was empty.

            Gordon walked back to the entrance and rejoined Marc and the other scientist. "Gordon, I'm afraid I've got some bad news." Marc said as soon as Gordon walked into his sight.

"What's wrong?"

"There's no other way out of this freezer. And worse, the door handle is broken on this side. There's no other way to open it. We're trapped in here."

"Ahem."

"Oh yeah, this is Ian."

"Hi, I'm Gordon."

"You work in the Anomalous Materials lab right?"

"Yeah. Or at least I did until the accident."

"What the hell were you people working on down there?"

"We were testing out a new sample that was, unfortunately, extremely unstable. As soon as I pushed it into the analysis port, I inadvertently created a resonance cascade."

"Which is ...?"

"All of this." Ian nodded his head. Gordon looked around the room. 'There has to be another way out of here.' Near the top shelf he spotted a ventilation shaft covering.

"What about the airducts?"

"What are you talking about?" Asked Ian.

"The freezer system. Could we use its airducts to find a way out?" Gordon pointed to the vent. Looking up, Ian and Marc agreed that it's worth a shot. Climbing up a nearby ladder, the trio crawled to the vent. Gordon, in the lead, pried off the cover, followed closely by Marc and Ian. Crawling on the top shelves of the racks of meat, Gordon cleared the way of vent covers and a single headcrab. To soon however, they reached an impasse. "Great, now how are we going to get from here to there?" Ian asked sarcastically. Gordon stuck his head out to look around and nearly had it taken off by the passing crate mover.

            "Hold on, I may have an idea." He waited until the crate passed by again and jumped on it before it could pass. "Son of a bitch." Marc said with a laugh. Gordon sat on the mover, waiting it to return to the other side of the room. 'I wonder what's in these crates?' Using his crowbar to remove the lid of them, he was rewarded with three fully charged batteries. 'Alright, armor's at forty.' Kicking the crates to the floor below, Gordon looked up just in time to see the approaching shaft.

            Timing it just right, he pulled himself in. Turning on his flashlight, he explored in a little bit to make sure nothing would pop out at him. After a few minutes, Ian and Marc were safely across. "I do not ever want to do something like that again!" Ian complained as they crawled through the vents. "Well you may have to if you want to survive this. Who knows, maybe the military's going to run into problems and won't be able to get down here on their own." Marc replied.

"Then I'll just find a nice hole to hide in until they do."

"Are you out of you're mind?!? What about the aliens, hm?"

"As long as I stay with one of you security guards I'll be safe."

"WILL YOU TWO SHUT THE HELL UP!?!?!?!?!" Ian and Marc were taken back by Gordon's sudden out burst. "This situation is bad enough without me having to listen to you two argue on what to do!" With a snort, he continued worming his way through the vents. "Gordon really HAS changed." Marc said to himself. "You... you knew him before this?" "Just a little. We played poker a few times together." They stayed there in silence as they watched Gordon crawl further away. With a start, they quickly caught up with him.

            They eventually came upon a small opening large enough for them to stand up in. "My poor back. I'm going to need to see a chiropractor when I get out of here. I'm just too old for all this running around." Ian pushed his hands on his back, popping it in several places. "Gordon, what are those ropes hanging everywhere?" Marc asked, pointing to them. "Those aren't ropes Marc." "Then what are they?" Gordon walked up to one and looked up. "Just as I thought. It's a barnacle."

"A what?"

"That's what I call them. These 'ropes' are really their tongue. When something walks by, they grab him and pull him up to their mouth. It's got a lot of sharp teeth in there. Watch." *BLAM SHUNK-CHUNK* Gordon stepped out of the way just in time to avoid getting hit by a stream of blood. Ian's face turned pale as he watched the creature die. Marc stepped over to where Gordon was and looked up. "Eh, now I know you mean."

"There are a few more around here. You take some while I get the rest?"

"Sure, why not?" *POW POW BLAM POW SHUNK POW CHUNK BLAM POW POW POW SHUNK-CHUNK POW*

"Got 'em all. How about you Marc?"

"They're all dead. And I found some stuff for you as well." Marc tossed Gordon a box of shells and a HEV battery. "Thanks a lot."

"Gordon, Marc, I've found the way out." Ian called from above their heads. "Good, hang on a sec, we'll be right there." The three men were crawling on their bellies once again, though for not as long as before. Light filtered though a vent covering up ahead, so he turned the flashlight off. Gordon knocked the cover off, only to see a security guard's death gasp at the feet of one of his superiors. "Sir, I can't take much more of this..." He then expired.

            'Ah, dammit.' Gordon thought. "AAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!" Jumping out of the vent, he looked to his left and saw another scientist run through a nearby door. The zombie he was running from followed, hot on his heels. *BL-BLAM SHUNK-CHUNK* The attached headcrab was blown off and the headless corpse fell to the ground. He heard Marc and Ian hit the ground behind him. "Where the hell is the military?" Ian asked as he looked around. "Hey, don't count on the cavalry finding us down here, head to the surface!" The newly encountered security replied.

"How do get to there from here?"

"Elevators are out of order -"

"That's just perfect! We're trapped down here now."

"- but we can still climb."

"Hey Marc, check this out." Gordon called to his friend. "What is it?" Gordon simply motion to the room beyond the door. "DAMMIT! We went through that freezer all for nothing!"

"Not necessarily. If we didn't, then Ian would be dead right now."

"I suppose you're right. Listen, Gordon, I'm just going to wait down here and keep this area secure. With these grenades, I'd have a pretty good chance. And if worse comes to worse and I'm about to be killed, I'll just pull a pin and take some those alien bastards out with me."

"Alright. What about Ian?"

"He's already made his choice clear. See you later." Gordon shook his friend's hand, both knowing that this was probably the last time they ever saw each other.

"Good luck Marc."

"Good luck to the both of us." Nodding, Gordon jogged off. After climbing up two flights and rounding a corner, the elevator shaft was straight ahead of him. All of a sudden, one of his fellow scientists's jumped through a window, rolling as he hit the floor. "Ah, you have one the new HEV suits. That'll be most useful." He said as he ran by Gordon. "Uhhh, why?" *CRASH* He turned around to see a zombie fall through a walkway up above him and another one break through a brick wall.

            'Man, these things are strong!' Running right up to them, he aimed his shotgun and fired. *BL-BLAM SHUNK-CHUNK BL-BLAM SHUNK-CHUNK* Gordon caught the last one as it raised its arms to attack. Its momentum, added by the double shotgun blast, sent it down the nearby elevator shaft. Ahead he could see a ladder leading upward. Realizing that it was the only way forward, Gordon walked back to the hallway entrance and prepped himself for his second life-threatening jump. 'How I wish I had a long jump module.'

            Having his suit absorb the S.P.A.S, he cleared his mind and raced forward. The adrenaline raised his speed, adding to the rush. He was at the edge. He leapt. For a split second, Gordon thought that he would fall, but then his hands firmly grasped the rungs. He pulled himself up, the adrenaline giving him strength that he didn't know he had. Physical Education was never his forte in M.I.T, as his main strength was his mind.

            Gordon couldn't help but smile at that thought. 'A whole lot of good that PhD does me now.' He remembered that the collage's jocks (if they could be called that) used to tease him about not having the brawn to match his brains. 'I'd like to see just one of them try and do what I'm doing right now.' Climbing the ladder and walking along the narrow maintenance holds, Gordon made his way to the elevator trapped above him. "I... I can't hold on, much longer."

            He looked up to see another one of his coworkers dangling on a ladder that was fixated on the elevator. "Hold on Just a little bit longer, I'm coming to help!" He called out. Gordon went faster, alas not fast enough. The scientist lost his grip and feel to the bottom of the shaft. "AAAAHHHHHHH-" He bowed his head. 'That does it. If I have any say in this matter, no one else is going to die. I will get those Marines down here and get us the hell out.'

            Gordon soon reached the top landing. Directly ahead of him was the ladder that lead to freedom. Jumping to it without a second thought, he climbed on top of the elevator, popped off the vent cover, and dropped in. Turning on his flashlight, he saw the elevator door was still intact. Gordon took out his shotgun and pressed the open door button.


	6. We've Got Hostiles Pt 1

_Here it is. The first chapter with the military. I hope I get this right._

            Gordon opened the doors to the elevator. At once he could detect something different. For one, it was considerably brighter than the offices below. But there was something else in the air. He couldn't put his finger on it, but something was there. As Gordon deactivated his flashlight, he heard someone to the right. Turning, he could see one of his colleagues rush over to the guard station and begin to bang on the glass.

            "For God's sake open the silo door! They're coming for us; it's our only way out!" "Who's coming for us?" Gordon asked, rushing over. He got there just in time to see the guard manning the station get grabbed by a zombie that had crawled through the vents. The guard feebly punched the zombie in its 'head', but was hauled inside, kicking the whole time. "Oh my God, we're doomed!" Gunshots rang out from inside the vent. The guard had managed to draw his Glock, but regrettably failed to save his own life. The scientist, fear gripping him, ran down the hall and right into a laser trip mine.

            And Gordon watched these events unfold without moving a muscle. 'What the hell's going on?' Unable to deduce it, he shook his head and walked down the hall. He had seen an HEV charging station, but figured that he would soon be out and wouldn't need it. Turning the corner, Gordon saw a laser-activated turret in front of him. The laser beams which activated it were also right in front of him. With the greatest of ease, he managed to avoid activating the turrets.

            "Attention, this announcement system now under military command." Gordon heard the speakers pronounce. 'That'll make it easier for them to clean this mess up.' Looking around the room, he could see several crates with Black Mesa stampings on them were stacked nearby, along with some military supplies. More importantly however, he saw a dead soldier lying nearby, his gun lying on the ground next to him.

            Gordon couldn't help but grin. Here was a weapon that he ACTUALLY knew everything about, short of field stripping and cleaning it. He was sad that the soldier was killed, but he couldn't do anything about that. He grasped the gun immediately, checking it over with his eyes. The gun was a Colt M635 sub-machine gun, commonly known as the M4 Carbine, and it had a 40mm M203 grenade launcher attached to the underside of the barrel.

            *BEWSHZ* A portal opened in behind Gordon and a headcrab materialized, leaping at him as soon as it hit the ground. He aimed his newly acquired weapon at it and fired. *DATDATDATDATDAT* It was then that he noticed that his clips only had twenty rounds left. 'Well, I shouldn't need it much longer anyways.' Gordon put aside his impulse to open the crates for supplies and continued on. He narrowly avoided walking into two trip mines that had been placed in the hallway. 'I wonder why these things are in place to begin with. It seems as if the military is trying to keep us in here.'

            Gordon found himself at a cafeteria. The sight of it made his stomach growl, reminding him that he hadn't eaten since last night. 'Now I wish I had taken the time to eat one of those energy bars.' He was interrupted from his thoughts by a shocker teleporting in. "Shit." Gordon dived behind a nearby table that had been turned onto its side. The green electricity narrowly missed him, but blew up a nearby soda machine. Calling up his shotgun, Gordon sprang up from his cover and killed it.

            Jogging down the hall, Gordon found another room set up with turrets. He jumped over the laser and was about to proceed when he heard something teleport in from behind him. Turning around and dropping into a prone position at the same time, Gordon saw a shocker standing right behind the laser. *BL-BLAM SHUNK-CHUNK* As soon as he had killed it, another one arrived to take its place. He noticed a pair of explosive barrels behind the creature. *KRACC* Gordon aimed at the barrels and fired. *BBOOOOOMMM*

            Gordon picked himself off the ground leaving the newly created hole behind. He reloaded his shotgun and looked for a way around the crates stacked nearly to the ceiling, finding none. Climbing on top of the crates, he slid over the edge and landed safely on his feet. *BEWSHZ* Gordon saw a pair of headcrabs teleport in front of him. As the tiny creatures slowly turned around, Gordon easily jumped over them. Raising the S.P.A.S, he shot out the glass covering the fire door activation button. Warning klaxons blazed and lights flashed as the door slowly began to close.

            Gordon was able to slip underneath the door before it got too low, but unfortunately so did one of the headcrabs. It crossed one of the beams, triggering the turrets in the previous room. Without any activation sound, the turrets opened fire on the remaining headcrabs. Gordon stepped on the headcrab as he climbed over yet more boxes stacked in his way. He jumped down without looking, resulting in him sliding on the wet floor and straight towards an open elevator shaft. "OH SHIT!!" He managed to change his trajectory and hit the corner of the room, but not with activating a pair of nearby turrets.

            The turrets opened fire but not on Gordon. They shot the hell out of two scientists that had been trapped in between them. 'God dammit.' He was able to conceal himself around a corner. He took out one of his grenades, pulled the pin, counted to two and tossed it around the bend. Gordon jumped to his left and lied flat on the ground. *BOOOMM* He got off of the ground and carefully walked into the room beyond. He saw that he had not only destroyed the turrets, but also a trip mine. Then, to his surprise, he saw the administrator standing on the metal walkway above.

            Curious, Gordon watched as the administrator started down at him for a moment, then turned and left. For some reason, he had a very bad feeling about what laid up ahead. Looking around the room, he could see a cargo bay door to his right. Gordon paused only to retrieve two batteries, bringing his armor up to seventy percent. He climbed up the ladder and jogged up a set of stairs. He walked over the metal footpath and saw Dr. Mike Harrington run down a flight of stairs to the ground. "Rescued at last, thank God you're here!"

            Gordon was greatly relieved as he saw the soldier down below. 'Finally, I can get out of this crazy place.' Relief quickly turned to horror as he watched the soldier open fire on the unarmed Dr. Harrington. Harrington let out a cry of surprise before falling down dead. Gordon stood gaping at what had just happen. He slowly closed his mouth as anger overwhelmed him.

            The soldier bent down and examined the scientist, making sure that he was dead. He had no compulsions against killing civilians. He had proven that at Ruby Ridge, Idaho and then again at Waco, Texas. Those were the prime reasons he had been chosen for this mission. *KLINK TINK* He heard the sound of someone running on the metal path above. He looked to see a body land right in front of him. The man slowly drew himself up to his full height. The soldier's eyes widened in awe.

            His primary target, Gordon Freeman, was standing right in front of him. Standing there in his orange hazard suit, sub-machine gun in hand, and goateed face, Gordon looked like some kind of superhero. That was the last thought that went through his mind as Gordon fired the M635 and killed him.

            Gordon kept on firing after he had emptied the clip into the soldier. After a minute he fell on his knees and dropped his gun. Killing an alien was one thing, a human was entirely different. He began to go into shock and his body started shaking. The temperature in the room seemed to drop. Gordon passed out. Eventually, he opened his eyes. 'God, how long have I been out?' He shook the haze from his mind and looked at the body on the floor. 'It wasn't a dream. They're here to kill us all.'

            Picking up his gun, Gordon noticed that it was empty. His HEV was maxed out in 9mm ammunition storage, but he didn't have any spare clips for the rifle. He looked around and saw two spare clips and another gun lying on a storage crate nearby. Gordon picked up the long, thin magazine and inserted it into the M635. His instinctively thumbed the slide release button. The rifle buckled slightly and he was ready to go. He sat there for a moment and emptied the spare magazines. He walked open the lift and pressed the button.

            As soon as he stepped out, Gordon saw one of his fellow scientists rush out of a hiding place. "Don't shoot! I'm with the science team!" The man yelled out. "WAIT!" Gordon ran forward and shoved the man down just as a soldier appeared. *DATDATDATDATDAT* The bullets flew through the air right where the scientist had been standing the moment before. Gordon's eyes flashed with hatred as he fired his own rifle. *DATDATDATDATDATDATDATDATDATDAT* The soldier managed to warn his comrades before falling down dead.

            Gordon heard the stomping of boots above him. He turned around to see a pair of soldiers standing on the balcony overhead with their rifles pointed down. "Shit." The world seemed to slow down to Gordon. He felt his body leaping backwards as he aimed his rifle up. The soldiers fired their weapons, the muzzle flashes like starlight. He could see the bullets fly through the air, his peripheral vision gone. *DAT DAT DAT DAT DAT DAT DAT*

            Gordon could feel his automatic kicking in his arms as he fired at the soldiers up above. *WHEW WHEW WHEW* He heard the bullets whiz by his head, cracking the air around it. Pieces of concrete sprayed everywhere as the bullets chipped it up. *DAT DAT DAT DAT DAT DAT DAT* Gordon continued firing his weapon at the soldiers. One of them ceased firing and dropped down to a prone position as he felt one of Gordon's rounds get absorbed by his PCV. The other marine's throat got all torn up when a lucky shot by Gordon hit it.

            Gordon hit the ground and time sped up again. He shook his head quickly and he looked around for the other soldiers. 'Where the hell did he go?' *DATDATDATDATDATDAT* "AUGH!" Gordon cried out when he felt himself being shot and fell against the wall. While he was stunned, the soldier ran up and aimed his rifle at Gordon's head. "Die traitor." The soldier whispered. He was about to pull the trigger when Gordon's feet sprang out and knocked off him balance. *DATDATDATDAT* The bullets harmlessly ricocheted off the floor.

             Gordon jumped off the ground and punched the marine in the face. The soldier's black beret came off and he staggered backward. With the cry off a trained marine, the soldier threw away his rifle and jumped at Gordon. His tried punching him in the gut, but discovered they he may as well try punching concrete. "Son of a…" The soldier said as he reared back for a head shot.

            That was then he felt the muzzle of Gordon's M4 pressing against his stomach. "Oh-" That was all the marine managed to say before Gordon squeezed the trigger and tore him up. The marine's body jerked several times, blood spraying all over the insides of his PCV. After Gordon had emptied most of his clip, he got up and looked around. He didn't feel any remorse at all for what he had done. 'Three… no, four men I killed. What in God's name is happening to me?'

            He shook his head. 'I had no other choice. I killed them in self-defense.' Gordon reloaded a fresh clip into his rifle and took the spare clips of the marines he had just killed. The scientist he had saved creeped over and, after seeing the carnage, clamped his hand over his mouth, ran over to the nearest corner and vomited. Gordon walked over to where the scientist was. "Are you going to be okay?" "Yeah." The scientist wiped his mouth and turned to Gordon.

"Why did you attack? They were here to help us."

"No they weren't. They were sent here to kill us."

"But… why?"

"I don't know." Gordon noticed the HEV charging station on the wall beside him. He wished that he had used the charging station over by the elevator but shrugged it off. He opened the panel on his suit and hooked up the station's hose to his inlet slot. Gordon's suit was already at a sixty-eight percent charge, but decided that if he's going up against the US Marines, he needed all the armor he could get.

            His suit hummed as the energy flowed into the microcircuits and increased the rigidity of the armor plating. Gordon's suit charge was great enough that the suit was able to project an energy barrier over his head, providing protection against his only exposed extremity. Just when he was about to hit 100 percent, the station ran out of power and shut down. Gordon unhooked the hose and closed the panel on his suit.

            When he touched his suit with his hand, it seemed like he was almost wearing an armor suit from the medieval era. Checking his rifle one last time, Gordon was about to leave when he felt something tap his shoulder. "What am I supposed to do?" He had forgotten about the scientist. "Try to find some way out of here that the military couldn't have access to… uh… I didn't even ask what your name is."

"Simmons. Dr. Luther Simmons."

"Well then Simmons, good luck to you." Gordon ran up the stairs and down the hall. Simmons just stood there looking at where he had gone. He sighed. 'I wish I knew how to use a gun.'

_            Ah, that's enough for now. I was originally planning on doing the entire part in one chapter. Oh well. As always, R&R._


	7. We've Got Hostiles Pt 2

_            Okay, I want you people to give a twenty-one gun salute to Ender, my beta reader!_

            *POW POW POW POW POW CLICK* Gordon reloaded his Glock and stepped out of the way as a stream of blood cascaded from the barnacle above. He had no idea what he was going to do. A military death squad was on the loose in the Black Mesa Research Facility. Bloodthirsty aliens coming from God knows where were on a rampage. His panicking colleagues were at the top of the endangered species list. And here he, Doctor Gordon Freeman, one of the few people in any condition to fight back, was stuck in the thick of it all.

            'Maybe I'm doomed.' Gordon thought. 'Maybe that no matter what I do, it won't be enough.' Walking over to the edge of the metal walkway, he peered into the black depths below. 'Maybe I should just kill myself.' The image almost instantly appeared in Gordon's mind. He could see himself hurtling through the abyss below and meet his end at the floor that lay somewhere below. He was horrified of the idea. Shaking his head, he pushed himself away from the guardrail.

            "I have to survive. I'm NOT just going to lie down and let my enemies kill me. If I die, it'll be on my terms. I'll go down fighting." Gordon's stomach growled. And, despite the severity of the entire situation, he grinned. 'But I have to get some food in my stomach or I won't have the energy to do anything.' Taking out his Colt, he jogged down the hallway. Running up a ramp, Gordon could see that his path branched left into a pair of laser tripmines and laser activated turrets and the path to his right lead into a storage area. He took the path to his right.

            Inside a trio of barnacle tongues hung down from above and Gordon could hear the chatter of marines above him. 'Shit, better not open the boxes then.' Seeing a conveyor belt to his left, he jumped on and started making his way to other end. As the belt was still active, Gordon's progress was hampered but he rapidly made it across. Jumping off the belt, he found himself in another storage area with a bunch of military crates stacked in it.

            To his left a pair of 9mm clips for a M635 rested on a pair of small crates. Further to his left a fully charged medstation and HEV charger were mounted on the wall. Ignoring the ammunition, Gordon jumped over the crates and charged his suit up to 100% protection. With the extended energy shield over his head, the room seemed to take on an orange tint. He wondered if he should put his glasses back on, but decided against it. After all, he only needed them to read.

            Gordon's stomach growled again. 'Damn, I really need to eat.' After the accident, he had lost all sense of time. Looking around, he saw another conveyor belt above him. Using the numerous boxes as steps, he climbed onto the belt and quickly scrambled to the other end. As soon as Gordon jumped off a burst from an automatic weapon peppered the wall to his right. "Stay the fuck away!"

            Before he could see who was shooting another burst was let loose. *DATDATDAT PI-PING PING* 'Shit!" Gordon saw that the last few rounds had ricocheted off the wall onto a gasoline filled barrel. "Stop shooting dumbass or else we're both dead!" "Shut up!" Gordon could tell from the sound of the person's voice that it was someone young, twenty-one at the most and he was scared.

            'If I don't stop him he'll kill us both.' Taking a deep breath, Gordon rolled out from behind the olive green boxes and sprayed the area with fire from his Colt. *DATDATDATDATDATDATDATDATDATDAT* The burst had only meant to force the man to get behind cover but unfortunately some of the shots struck him in the face, shattering the goggles and killing him. "Aw shit."

            Gordon felt horrible at what he had done. Marine or not, this guy didn't belong here. He walked over and inspected the body. "PFC Plisken" The tag on his PCV read. Gordon didn't have a clue what PFC meant. His stomach growled yet again. 'Damn, I've gotta get some food.' He wasn't about to walk all the way back to the cafeteria and since he had never been in this section of the facility, he had no idea when he'd find another one.

            'What a second doesn't the military carry that packaged food with them?' To his left Gordon could see a military crate right next to a medstation. He opened it up and after rummaging around some, found what he was looking for. Three brown plastic packages marked Meal-Ready-to-Eat or MRE for short. Gordon grabbed one of them and tore it open without much difficulty. Leaning his rifle against the crate, he sat down and enjoyed his first meal of the day.

            In another part of the facility, a man ran. What was he running from? Everything. He was running from the military. He was running from the aliens. He was running from himself. He suffered the guilt that he alone was responsible for what had happened. That he had been played for as a fool.

            Gunfire erupted from behind him. The military had locked onto him again. 'Damn tracers' he thought. He would remove his suit, but it was the only thing that was keeping him alive. He reached for his Colt Python. His fingers grasped around the warm metal. Yanking it out of his left thigh holster, he tumbled and landed in a kneeling position and facing towards the grunts. *BAM BAM BAM BAM* His days as a US Marine continued to serve him now.

            All four .357 slugs buried themselves within the skulls of his pursuers. He stood up and reholstered the firearm. He was alive for the moment. But in war, that could change within a blink of an eye.

            Gordon nibbled at the nut covered brownie bar as he looked over a few other things that were in the crate. Most of it was standard stuff like shovels and whatnot. He found a rifle cleaning manual as well as the required materials. That was a definite take. Gordon knew that before this was over, he would need to clean his guns.

            Another thing of interest that he found was a booklet entitled "Essential Subjects". He flipped through, finding nothing of any real interest to him. On one page he found something that was called creed of the Marine. This is how it went.

            This is my rifle. There are many like it, but this one is mine.

            My rifle is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I must master my life.

            My rifle without me is useless. Without my rifle, I am useless. I must fire my rifle true. I must shoot straighter than my enemy who is trying to kill me. I must shoot him before he shoots me. I will…

            My rifle and myself know that what counts in this war is not the rounds we fire, the noise of our burst, nor the smoke we make. We know that it is the hit that counts. We will hit…

            My rifle is human, even as I, because it is my life. Thus, I will learn it as a brother. I will learn its weaknesses, its strengths, its parts, its accessories, its sights, and its barrel. I will ever guard it against the ravages of weather and damage. I will keep my rifle clean and ready, even as I am clean and ready. We will become part of each other. We will…

            Before God I swear this creed. My rifle and myself are the defenders of my country. We are the masters of our enemy. We are the saviors of my life.

            So be it, until victory is America's and there is no enemy, but Peace!

            Gordon stared at the book at moment longer before deciding to take it with him. It might prove to be a boredom reliever during dull moments. Plus, as that old saying goes, 'Know yourself, know your enemy, and you hold the key to victory'. He gathered up his things and dropped down to the hall below, being careful not to trip the laser beams. Gordon smashed the emergency door lock with his elbow. Warning klaxons sounded and red lights flashed as the fire truck red door started to grind close.

            Gordon hopped over a tripmine that that had been placed and heard movement to his left. Two of his colleagues dash out of an alcove. "Take me with you! I'm the one man who knows everything!" Gordon's eyes widened. "WAIT!" Quickly reloading his rifle, Gordon rushed out and looked around for the marines.

            They made themselves known by opening fire on the unarmed men. "You fucking bastards!" Gordon shouted out as he ran forward.

            Doctor Ken Birdwell lied on the floor. It was a funny thing. He had always assumed that being shot hurt. But he felt no pain. Looking to his right he could see Backman also lying on the floor. The blank stare in his eyes chilled Ken as he knew that he too would wear the same expression soon. Gunfire erupted around him. Through his blurred vision he could make out a figure in orange shooting a gun.

            His breathing was relaxed and normal. If Ken didn't feel the wetness on his body and the smell of his own blood, he wouldn't even know that he had been shot. A muffled curse was heard on he saw a camouflaged body struggle with one of those barnacle creatures. Ken watched as the man dropped his rifle and began to pry the tongue off his body. Ken turned away, already knowing that the man would lose.

            A final series of shot was heard and the barnacle released its grip on the now dead man. Then all of a sudden the pain started. He could feel his breath grow short and ragged. He lost command of his limbs and began to panic. He didn't want to die. But then again, no one did. He began to drift into his mind. He felt himself back home with his ex-wife. She sat there on their porch and smiled at him, all transgressions between them forgotten.

            The feeling of being grabbed jerked Ken out of his daydream. "You said you knew what happened. Tell me!" Ken summoned what little remained of his strength to look at who was holding him. "Who…?" His eyes focused one last time. "Freeman…" He could feel his body shutting down as he passed onto judgment before God. "What happened!?" Gordon yelled out. "Up… you were… set up…"

            "Who set me up?!? Tell me!" It was no use. The man was dead. "Shit!" Gordon released the now dead man. "I was so close. I was so God damn close!" He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. It didn't matter now. Gordon had to keep on fighting, keep on killing. It was the only chance he had at making it out of this deathtrap in one piece. Well in body at least, his mind would be an entirely different battle but he couldn't worry about that part now.

            Reloading his rifle and taking the ammunition from the dead marines, Gordon jogged up the two floors of metal walkways and through the passageway up top. He was still in pretty good condition. Health was at ninety-eight percent and armor was at ninety. He passed over the same pit as before (not before taking out the barnacles) and emerged on the top of another warehouse.

            "Yeah right Stevenson. Like there's a chance in hell we'll be pulling out of here anytime soon." Marines. "Shit." Gordon silently got onto his belly and crawled forward slowly. Peering over the edge of the walkway he saw another trio of soldiers standing guard over one of the elevators to the surface. For a moment, Gordon had a crazy idea of stealing a vehicle and high-tailing to the nearest five-star hotel.

            Shaking the fantasy out of his head, Gordon carefully raised the Colt to his shoulder. He took aim on the marine leaning against a bunch of boxes stamped with the Black Mesa logo. *DATDATDATDATDATDATDAT* Every single shot it home and the soldier went down like a sack of potatoes. The other two marines scrambled for cover, one behind some boxes and the other behind a pillar.

            Gordon continued to fire in three round bursts. *DATDATDAT DATDATDAT DATDAT KIK* 'What the hell?' Gordon squeezed the trigger again. *KIK* *DATDATDATDATDATDATDAT* "Shit!" He scuttled backwards out of the soldiers line of fire. Turning the rifle to the side, Gordon saw what the problem was. One of the shell casings had gotten caught and didn't extract.

            He quickly went to work. Pressing the slide release catch, he grabbed the thin mag and placed it on the ground. *DATDATDATDATDATDAT PI-PING* Ducking his head reflexively, Gordon waited a moment before continuing. He pulled back the charging handle for the rifle and locked it open. Using his finger, Gordon managed to pry the casing out of the chamber. After a quick look to make sure there wasn't any other problems, he reinserted the clip and chambered a round. *CUNK* He looked to his right and nearly froze.

A grenade had landed right next to him.

            Gordon picked himself off of the ground and dashed away from the explosive weapon. *BBBOOOOM* The explosion lifted Gordon off of the ground and sent him flying to the floor below. Crashing through the boxes, he finally stopped when he slammed into the wall. Pain messages went to his brain from all over his body. He tasted blood in his mouth as well. Gordon heard the pounding boots of the marines. "Pick that son of bitch off the floor."

            Gordon moaned in pain and weak protest as he was forced onto his feet. "Well, well, well, look who we have here." The squad leader grabbed Gordon's jaw and forced him to look at his face. "You're quite the soldier Freeman. Consider this a military funeral." The bereted man took a step back and pumped his S.P.A.S. once. *SHUNK-CHUNK*

            The man thumbed the double tap feature and pressed the cold barrel against Gordon's skull. "Any last words asshole?" Gordon mumbled a reply. "What the fuck did you just say?" Gordon lifted his face and grinned at the man. "I'm not done." The soldier looked at him blankly. *PAPAPAPAPAPAPAPAPAPAPAPAPAPAPAPA*

            Gordon had taken out his Glock and flicked it over to automatic. The 9x19mm rounds pummeled the marines' PCV. The man stumbled backwards and dropped his shotgun in surprise. Gordon grabbed the weapon and rolled to a kneeling position. He aimed it at the soldier holding the rifle. Behind the reflective goggles the man's eyes widened. *BL-BLAM* The buckshot utterly destroyed his head and the body fell to the ground.

            He spun around and pointed at the single marine left. *SHUNK-CHUNK* "WAIT! Please, I have a family!" Gordon picked the man up and shoved him against a nearby box. "Why the fuck should I? We called for help and you guys came to kill us all!" Gordon threw him against the concrete pillar.

            "You have murdered helpless men and for what? National security?"

 "I don't know. We-"

 "DON"T JERK AROUND WITH ME!"

            Gordon struck the man's face hard with the butt of the shotgun. All the rage he had been building up ever since the cascade occurred was being released. The soldier cried out and fell to the ground, holding his now bleeding mouth. Gordon put his foot on his chest and pressed down hard, restricting his airflow. "Why the fuck should I spare you? You claim to have a family. People around here had families but did you ask them? No! You just shot on sight like the good little soldier you are."

            He pressed the barrel right against the man's forehead. The black beret had fallen off, revealing his crew-cut red hair underneath. His pupils were wide with fear and his face pale as a white linen sheet. Gordon's trigger finger twitched. He had every right to kill this man. It was a kill or be killed situation. The military had fired the first shot, so the Black Mesa personnel had no choice but fight back.

            "Please…" The man was crying now. "Please don't kill me. I'll do anything." Gordon stared at him, the hatred and fury still burning hot.

Gordon tossed the weapon by the elevator.

            "Thank you, thank you, thank you…" The man kept on repeating those words. Gordon picked him off the floor. "Now you listen, and listen well. I am going to go up that elevator. You try to stop me, and I will kill you. You try to follow me, and I will kill you. Understand?" The marine gave several quick nods. "Good." Gordon stared at him for a moment longer before releasing his grip.

            Not knowing where his rifle had gone, he picked up the headless soldier's one. He calmly walked up to the cargo elevator. A health charger was mounted on the wall to the left. Gordon drained it of its compound, bringing his health up eight-nine percent. That grenade and fall had done a number on him. His armor charge was reduced down to forty-nine percent. But none of that mattered right now.

            Gordon could feel the breeze flowing down the elevator. Finally, after hours of running around underground, he would see the sky. He pressed the button to the right of the elevator. The grating swished opened and the surface beckoned him. Gordon cast one last look over at the soldier. He has sitting down and staring back, waiting for Gordon to leave.

            That's exactly what happened. Gordon stepped into elevator and pressed the up button. The doors banged shut behind him and the floor slowly began to rise. Gordon didn't know what he would find at the top. Whether it was a means of escape or a whole platoon of marines he didn't care. This would be it. His mind wandered back to his college days at MIT, specifically to the months before his graduation.

            Gordon remembered that one of his roommates had brought a couple of action games with him. Personally Gordon preferred games like the Myst and King's Quest series. But his situation was exactly like the ending of one the games his roommate played. What was it called again? Oh yeah, Max Payne. Gordon was reminded of the last level intro when Max rode up the elevator to face the woman who had thrown New York City into chaos and killed his family.

            He remembered what it said on one of the other levels. 'The trick is that there is no trick. It didn't matter how strong or how good you are, no secret mantra. The only thing you could do is hang on as madly and as hard as possible.' Words of truth if Gordon ever heard them. The elevator reached halfway. The sound of choppers filled the desert air like the incessant chatter of crickets. Soldiers were being deployed downwards from insertion craft, spreading like some sort of disease over the surface.

            An air strike landed nearby. The gears for the cargo elevator ground to a halt just short of the top. Gordon reloaded all of his weapons. Holding his Colt M635 tightly in his hands, he stepped off of the elevator. Several crates were stacked nearby, all of them bearing military markings and painted in green camo. Undoubtedly the Marines were moving their own supplies into the base.

            Outside the setting sun painted the desert sky a shade of red. Gordon didn't see any soldiers nearby. Outside of the warehouse machine gun fire was heard all around and the yard was full of containers. All of a sudden, half a dozen soldiers revealed themselves from behind the crates and pointed their rifles at Gordon. "Give it up Freeman! We've got you surrounded!" Gordon had only one reply. "Go fuck yourselves!"

            Gordon dove behind cover to his left as a maelstrom of bullets erupted from the squad of marines. Switching his rifle for the S.P.A.S, he crouched down and waited for some idiot to rush in and try to take him out. Instead two grenades were thrown in. 'Oh shit!' Gordon kicked one to the other side of the room and picked up the other one. Tossing the grenade back at the soldiers, he ducked into the corner. *BOOOOMMM BBOOMMM*

            The two grenades exploded, one caving in the elevator. As for the other one, a soldier had sacrificed himself for his squad by jumping onto the grenade taking the full force of the explosion. Ignoring the blinding dust, Gordon leaned out from behind the wall and looked for a target. *BL-BLAM SHUNK-CHUNK* The soldier went down. *DATDATDATDATDATDAT PING KI-PING*

            The other soldiers fired blindly into the small building. Or so Gordon thought. In reality they were laying down covering fire, forcing him to stay inside. One soldier quickly jumped in and took Gordon by surprise. The soldier kicking him the gut, Gordon grunted and brought his shotgun up. The soldier grabbed it with his left hand pulled Gordon closer to him. Rearing his head back, the marine head butted Gordon.

            His vision swam and he fell to the floor. The soldier pointed his rifle down. Gordon dropped the S.P.A.S. and rolled to side. *DATDATDATDATDATDATDAT KI-KING* The 9mm bullets chipped up pieces of concrete and the ricochet nearly destroyed the nearby medstation. Gordon jumped to his feet and brought out his crowbar. The soldier faced Gordon, only to get the two and half feet long piece of steel slam into the side of his head.

            Gordon quickly picked up his shotgun and blasted the guy away. Three down, three to go. Switching over to his Colt, he rolled out into the middle of the doorway and fired at the first moving object he saw. *DATDATDATDATDATDATDAT* The bullets pounded the squad leader's PCV, draining it of its charge. Gordon followed up with a grenade of his own. *BBBOOOOM* Only one more left.

           The marine in question sprung out from Gordon's right and gave him a hard fist into his chest. Gordon stumbled back. The marine drew his sidearm, the Beretta M92FS. *POW POW POW POW POW* Each round drained Gordon's already diminished armor even more. He did something drastic.

            He dropped down into a prone position, knowing full well that a bullet could hit his head. The soldier followed Gordon's movement but it was too late. *DATDATDATDATDATDATDATDATDATDATDATDATDATDAT* In a hail of bullets, the last marine fell. Gordon lied there on the ground just breathing. The odds had been six to one, all in the soldiers favor. They had weeks of training in fighting and weapon usage. He just had a quick five minute course with a single weapon. Now, if not before, he was convinced that there was a God.

            Pulling himself off the blacktop, Gordon checked his status. It wasn't very good. Health was down to fifty-five percent and armor was at ten. After draining the medstation inside, his health was up to a much more respectable eight-five percent. Reloading his S.P.A.S. and Colt, Gordon stripped the dead marines of their ammo and looked across the yard. An electrified fence had been set up and an osprey flew over head. In a matter of moments it would be dropping off more soldiers, something he didn't want or need.

            On the other side a small shack could be seen. The door stood ajar, revealing the ladder leading back down into the facility. Gordon made a dash for it. The sound of an incoming mortar was heard. He dove into the shack. *KABOOOMMM* The shell impacted twenty feet behind him, making a very large dent in the ground. *WHEEOOW* Another shell was falling. Gordon grasped the red rungs and quickly climbed down. *KABBOOOOM* The shell collapsed the shed, sealing it up behind him. Nothing short of high explosives would open it back up.

            Jumping down into the alcove, Gordon immediately saw the medstation and HEV charging unit. He went work patching himself up.

            "God dammit all to hell!" Captain Jim Mason swore as he saw Freeman disappear into the ground. 'As if things aren't bad enough all ready, one of our primary targets slips right out from between our fingers.' When Goose squadron was shot down at lot of good men got killed. Not to mention that two crazy and well armed women were also running around. And some security guard shot up the train yards an hour ago, taking out eight squads and a tank while he was at it.

           Opening up the cockpit door, Mason leaned in. "Tell the artillery crews to blow open that air hatch in grid two-alpha. Freeman's gone into the ducts and as soon as they're done, we'll drop in some troops right on top of him". The comm. officer nodded and relayed the message. Mason closed the door and looked at the squad behind him.

            "Alright men, listen up! Freeman is right below us trying to head back into the base. It appears that our initial estimations on him are wrong. He is heavily armed and has developed the skill to go along with it." His oration was interrupted when the mortar round hit. "Moore, Vincent, get your asses down there! Shoot to kill!" "Yes sir!" The two marines grabbed their rifles and hooked their PCV's up to the nylon rope. "GO! GO! GO!"

            "Oh shit…" Gordon looked up to see two soldiers rappelling down from the aircraft. 'I don't have any more time for this.' He quickly jumped down onto the fallen ventilation fan and slipped into the air ducts. Worming his way forward on his stomach, Gordon no longer heard the osprey or the sounds of soldiers. Breathing a sigh of relief he exited the airshaft, almost landing on top of a still active fan.

            Swallowing hard, he edged his way over to the open vent and ducked inside. Activating his flashlight, Gordon held the Glock in his right hand as he searched for another way out. He soon realized that he was back inside the warehouse. At a conjunction a little further ahead, Gordon was surprised when a headcrab leaped down the shaft to his right. *POW POW POW* He went right on past the pale thing's body.

            Further down the shaft he found an opening and dropped out down from the shaft. To Gordon's surprise, he was back in the cafeteria he had passed a while ago. Resting on the serving counter were a pair of batteries and three clips for the Colt. He immediately drained the batteries, bringing his armor up to a good charge of sixty-five percent. To his left was a medstation that he used to patch up what little damage was done when he fled the two marines. *BEEWSHHZ BEWWSHZ*

            Gordon switched his pistol for the rifle and slowly walked over to the window by the other wall. Before he got there he heard the unmistakable chattering of the shockers. Judging from the sound of the teleportations, the aliens have gained control over them. He saw the two creatures standing outside in the dining area. *DATDATDATDATDATDATDATDATDAT* Gordon took the monstrosities by surprise and downed one of them. *KRRAACC* The shocker built up its charge. Gordon moved out of the way just in time to avoid getting hit.

            He moved back in front of the window and fired again. *DATDATDATDATDATDATDATDATDATDAT* Every round hit dead center and it fell to the ground. Gordon reloaded and took a spare clip from the counter top. 'Wait a second, who was holed up here?' Looking on the ground, he could see a Colt M635 lying on the floor. Behind it lay the door to the freezer. Gordon opened it and gasped.

            A body of a scientist lied on the floor, his chest pockmarked with bullet holes. Gordon could only think of two scenarios. Either the military had gotten to him or someone had snapped and shot him. Neither one was a good thing. Leaving the body behind, he climbed back up into the vents. After backtracking a bit, he went down the path that the headcrab had jumped from before.

            After crawling a few yards, Gordon heard voices down below. "I killed twelve dumbass scientists and not one of them fought back!" This sucks!" Gordon became infuriated at the soldiers. 'You want a scientist that fights back? I'll show you a scientist that fights back!' *DATDATDATDATDATDATDATDATDATDATDAT* The two soldiers were caught completely by surprise and the one Gordon shot at dropped to the ground, dead.

            The other soldier ran away, knowing that their attacker had the element of surprise. Gordon saw an opening further up and knew that the marine wouldn't walk back into his line of sight again. Silently exiting, he saw that the soldier was panicking and firing randomly into the vent shaft. "Over here asshole!" The soldier turned towards Gordon. *DATDATDATDATDAT* They both fired at each other. *WHEW WHE-WHEW* 

            Gordon heard the air crack around his ears and instinctively ducked. *DATDATDATDATDATDAT PI-PI-PING* The marine's rounds continued to miss Gordon but hit the generator door behind him. Gordon raised his rifle again and fired, finally killing him. After reloading and taking one of the clips lying on the floor, he went back into the vent. With both branches searched there was only one option for Gordon. He had to go past the fan.

            After crawling back to the deadly machine, he looked around the small area. A ladder was to the left of him, obviously the intended way down. But with fan going, he wasn't sure that we be able to make it. 'There has to be another way.' In the corner he spotted a ledge right underneath an opening big enough for him to drop by without harm. Taking a deep breath, Gordon edged his way over and fell down. His feet hit the ledge and slipped.

            He didn't even have the time to cry out before the rest of his body followed to the grating below. He stayed there for a moment breathing rapidly. "That was way too close for comfort!" After regaining control over his body, Gordon continued through vents. He emerged in another air shaft and saw two other openings above him. The top one didn't have any light coming from it. The other was covered in blood. Taking out the shotgun, he went through the bottom one.

            To his total surprise, Gordon was back at the guard station from when he first got off the elevator! The zombie was nowhere to be seen as was the guard's body. Flipping himself out, he decided to just stay there for a moment. That was, until he found out he was not alone. To Gordon's left one of his colleagues stood looking very mad

            "Well, so much for the government. Their idea of containment is to kill everyone associated with the project. Judging from your hazard suit, I'd say you were part of what went wrong, isn't that right?"

"Unfortunately, yeah."

"Now look, if there's anyone that can end this catastrophe it's the science team in the Lambda complex at the opposite end of the base. With the transit system out, I couldn't tell you how to get there. But there's an old decommissioned rail system somewhere through here, beyond the silo complex. If you can make it through the rocket test labs, you might be able to worm your way through the old tunnels to track down whatever's left of the lambda team. You can trust them. You can trust all of us."

            So this was it. Gordon was presented with two options. He could ignore what the old man was saying and just try to find a way out. Or he could trek across miles and miles of tunnels, road, and hallways to the Lambda labs with the hope that somehow this entire thing could be stopped. The odds would be stacked against him either way, more so if tried to go to the reactor. It all came down to one thing. Which one was the right choice? Gordon nodded.

            "Fine then, I'll go. No matter what the cost these things MUST be stopped." He was committed. His ally nodded. "Good luck." Gordon pressed the silo door opening. The massive red door began to grind open. He took what few shells he needed from a supply resting on the counter to his left. "Here." He said, tossing the shotgun on the counter to the scientist. "You'll need it."

            The man pumped it once and nodded. "Thank you." As Gordon walked through the door, he remembered what had happened when he first came by here. Now he knew what the scientist was talking about before when he said they were coming for us. He was talking about the military. Right before he went through the massive doorway, Gordon noticed the charging station that he had ignored before. Now he was thankful that he did. He immediately drained it and brought his armor up to one hundred percent charge.

            He was ready for what lie before him.

            _Sorry this chapter took so long though I think it was worth it! Also, why does this section stop updating when I do? I mean come on people ,you don't have to wait for me._


	8. Blast Pit Pt 1

_And you thought I was dead. My friends, you couldn't be more wrong._

            The corridor was comprised of nondescript concrete walls, obviously remnants of the Cold War that ended two decades ago. Gordon slowly walked down it, eyes scanning for any threat. He didn't have a clue where the hell he was going. He had only been working at the facility for two weeks. Hell not even that long! As he turned the corner, he could see the area ahead of him was blocked with several boards that had been nailed to the concrete doorway, crates stacked up behind that, and two sawhorses painted in red and white caution stripes in front.

            Beyond the blockade Gordon could hear the sound of water dripping from an unknown source. Taking out his crowbar, he wrenched away several boards and broke up two of the crates that were in his path. Moving the sawhorse out of the way, Gordon took the S.P.A.S. out and looked around the room before him. Nothing but more crates.

            Breathing in relief, he took a step forward. *SCREE! SCREE!* Two headcrabs leapt off of their hiding place at Gordon's head. He hit the ground fast and the two creatures slammed into another crate tucked away into the corner. *BLAM SHUNK-CHUNK BLAM SHUNK-CHUNK* Now there were two less headcrabs in existence. Pulling himself off the concrete floor, Gordon paused a moment to reload his shotgun before moving on.

            The next room was huge, to say the least. About two-thirds down the walls sloped downward into a large steel door and a pathway lead into a control booth above and to the right. Gordon walked right out into the room only to have another headcrab leap at him. Time froze. He could see the headcrab perfectly lined up with his head. He didn't have the time to react. It was going to attach itself and Gordon would be zombified.

            Then, out of seemingly nowhere, a puke green glob of acid collided with the headcrab and time restarted. The bulbous, chalk white thing was knocked into the wall. It screeched in pain as its body was dissolved. Gordon looked to his left and on the other side of the chamber a bullsquid sat, partially concealed in the shadows underneath the control booth. It spat at Gordon again. He jumped to the left and landed on his knees.

            He switched the shotgun for his Glock and took aim. *POW POW POW POW POW POW* The bullsquid jumped as the first few bullets carved holes in its body and ran to the other side of the area below Gordon. *POW POW POW POW POW* All but one of those shots hit and the bullsquid collapsed on the ground. Its pale green blood flowed from the bullet wounds and gently sloped down towards the steel doors.

            Gordon began to berate himself. "You stupid asshole, you've got to think tactically now! These damn things are going to kill you if you don't!" After a few deep breaths, he reloaded the pistol and moved up to the control booth. He had just stepped in when a nearby door was ripped apart from the inside. *PAPAPAPAPAPAPAPAPAPAPA CLICK* The zombified worker fell to the ground. Gordon reloaded the pistol as he peeked inside the room. "Whoa."

            Inside were a tool chest and a desk with a toolbox, crowbar and some grenades on it. Stacked around however were a propane tank and a crate full of dynamite. Apparently the former worker had the mind set that if he was going, he'd take his attacker with him.

            Gordon briefly entertained the thought of taking the crowbar but decided against it. After all, what would he do with it? Hold one in each hand?  He did however take the grenades to restock his small amount. Walking back into the control booth, he pulled the lever marked "lift control". Warning klaxons sounded and red lights flashed down by the lift entrance.

            Leaning on the booth window frame, Gordon watched as the steel doors below opened and the lift rose up to his current level. Letting his suit absorb the 9mm pistol, he walked back down to the lower lever. Spotting a ladder that lead down to the lift, he grabbed on and lowered himself down. As soon as Gordon touched bottom, he took out the S.P.A.S. and walked onto the platform itself.

            The activation button to the side of the lift was brightly lit and attached to a pillar underneath the control booth. Pressing the button, he heard a loud buzz in response and began descending the shaft at a surprisingly fast rate. The air rushed by Gordon's head and a few seconds later the lift roughly stopped at the bottom. The shotgun was directly lifted to his shoulder as he looked around for any immediate threats. Finding none, he let his arm drop to the side.

            Looking around, he saw that he now stood in a tunnel that lead further into facility and a small train sat at the bottom of the room. Grinning, Gordon leaped down from the lift and onto the railway. At once the sounds of houndeyes and bullsquids echoed from further in the tunnel. Wasting no time, he climbed onto the train and pushed on the control lever. The train beeped in response to his actions and a speed indicator appeared on the bottom of his HUD.

            Gordon pushed the lever once to get the train moving and an additional three times to get it at top speed. As he whizzed through the passageway, he saw that it was filled with houndeyes, bullsquids and a few headcrabs. Apparently the shockers hadn't reached this place yet. To his amusement, a few houndeyes and a bullsquid ran in front of the moving vehicle and were instantly crushed. Then again, it seemed that neither kind had any intelligence beyond basic animalistic instincts so it wasn't all that surprising.

            Unfortunately Gordon wasn't paying attention to the track and he crashed through a barrier that had been set up. Emergency sirens sounded and he cursed himself for his inattentiveness. Looking ahead, he saw that a large span of the floor was covered in radioactive liquid with several decaying wooden crates at the far end. He yanked at the control lever but it was stuck at maximum speed and wouldn't budge. To this there was only one thing Gordon could say.

"Oh shit."

            The train slammed into the emergency barrier at the end of the track and he was sent flying. Screaming and doing several flips in the air, he landed on top of the largest crate and shattered it. To his surprise, the sludge wasn't as deep as he thought. Standing up, it only reached his knees. Gordon didn't have time to breathe in relief as a nearby bullsquid started spiting at him, not to mention that his armor was slowly getting drained due to the toxic waste.

            First he climbed onto another one of the boxes that was thankfully able to support his weight. Drawing his submachine gun (he had lost his grip on the S.P.A.S. during flight), Gordon used the aiming reticule on his HUD to shoot the creature without having to hold the weapon to his shoulder. After expending about half a clip, the monster shuddered and died.

            Now he was able to breath in relief. "Lady Luck must definitely favor me right now." He mumbled to himself as he reloaded the M635. Jumping onto another few crates, he was able to reach solid concrete. The first thing he spotted was his wayward shotgun lying in a corner, the second being a ladder that let him on the top of a gigantic pipe.

            Grabbing the shotgun first, Gordon put the two weapons away and climbed up the ladder. The pipe itself was a faded orange color that disappeared into the nearby wall. However a maintenance hatch was opened, presenting a way to continue on his journey. Taking out his shotgun, he dropped into the hollow construct and activated his flashlight.

            The pipe was large enough so that he didn't have to crawl on his belly like he had been doing in the vents before. One end was blocked off by a rusting grate so he had to go the other way. Gordon was glad too, as a foul odor was seeping through from the other side. As he was crouch-walking through, he wondered about the fate of Dr. Green and Dr. Cross. 'They're still alive.' He thought. 'They both have more experience with an HEV than me.'

            A short distance away another maintenance hatch was left open. Deactivating his flashlight, he slowly stood up and looked around. A yard above was the ceiling, surrounding him more pipes, and below a bullsquid spitting at him. A quick switch over to the Glock 18 fixed that problem however. Reloading the pistol, Gordon climbed onto an adjacent pipe. From this vantage he could see a balcony overlooking the area that was hidden by the wall previously.

            Dropping down to another pipe, he slowly walked along it until he was standing in front of the balcony. A quick jump and he was on solid concrete again. To his immediate right was a countertop with a pair of batteries and med kits on it. Gordon eagerly used all of four of the items. With his health and armor both back up to 100%, he drew the shotgun from his suit and continued onward.

            The room in front of him was massive, like a cavern. The three walls were probably about two hundred feet long and the ceiling so high up that he couldn't even see it. On the opposite side of the room, the outer wall of some cylindrical construct bulged in that was easily just as large. The walkway on which Gordon stood spanned from the right wall to a third of the way over with the doorway he emerged from in the walkway's center. In the middle of the room was a freight elevator that led to another chamber above.

            Gordon's only way further was with the use of that elevator and the only way over was a pipe that lead to a broken down nuclear reactor that was leaking radioactive plutonium all over the floor. The pipe itself was fairly wide, so he didn't have to worry about balancing himself too much. As he walked on the pipe, his suit's built in Geiger counter started clicking at a fairly quick pace. Suddenly his suit took a hit from the right. Gordon whipped his head in the direction to see a bullsquid sitting in the far corner of the room.

            Another massive glob of acid spat forth from the creature's mouth though this one missed Gordon by a few feet, so he ignored the thing and kept on going. A few more steps and he safely reached the reactor. He hopped onto the lift and depressed the control button by the guide pole. It buzzed and he began rising towards the ceiling.

            The lift was barely functioning so its rate of ascent was pretty slow. Gordon took the time to sit down and rest his weary feet.

"It's probably been about eight hours," He said to himself, "since the Resonance Cascade occurred. And here I am trying to save the world. I've got the US Marines at my back, strange aliens at my front and security guards and scientists as my only allies." He smiled and shook his head.

            "Seems like the plot of some B movie from the eighties, only without all the gratuitous sex."

            The lift came to a halt with a short corridor in front of Gordon that lead to another huge cylindrical room. 'That must be rocket test labs.' He thought as he stood back up. Slowly walking forward, the first thing he heard was the sound of something slurping and chewing to the right. Dropping to a crouch, Gordon slowly crept along the left wall with the S.P.A.S. ready for him to execute a double blast.

            The smell of the radioactive substance around him was soon mixed with another scent, that of human blood. He reached a point where he could look at what was going on. A bullsquid was feasting on the eviscerated corpse of a member of the science team. The creature was so intent on devouring its meal; it didn't notice Gordon point the barrel of the shotgun at the approximate location of its brain.

*BL-BLAM*

            The twin ten gauge shells plowed through the bullsquid's flesh. It never knew what hit it. Gordon chambered another round before reloading. He briefly spared a look at the corpse of his coworker. The face didn't look familiar, so he doubted he had ever met the guy. The man's torso was ripped to shreds with most of the major organs already eaten. There was barely any blood on the surrounding wall and floor so the bullsquid must have drank most of that as well.

            Gordon barely took one step onto a metal footpath that clung to the edge of the area when he heard the chittering of houndeyes just ahead of him. A pack of four ran up to him and begin making their noises and blinking at him. Cute as the things were, they were still dangerous as hell. This they proved by simultaneously starting to emit a high pitched whine. *BLAM SHUNK-CHUNK BLAM SHUNK-CHUNK BLAM SHUNK-CHUNK* With the first three down, the last one turned tail and ran. Gordon chased it down the walkway and gunned it down at the end. *WHEEEE*

            His head snapped to the right and he saw another houndeye partially concealed behind a pair of explosives barrels. He didn't even have time to curse before the houndeye released its shockwave. The barrels detonated setting of a chain of events. First Gordon was thrown up in the air. Then the shockwave hit another pair of explosives barrels (that some genius had placed on a metal bridge leading to the center area). Those blew up as well, sending the hapless scientist even further up.

            Colliding with the wall of the central construct, Gordon fell down and by some miracle, managed to grab onto the safety rungs outside of the construct's entrance. A pair of headcrabs jumped at him, missing by a mile and falling to their mutual deaths to the bottom some two hundred yards below. Grunting, Gordon hauled himself onto the walkway. 'Holy shit, that's the second time I've been thrown around.' His HUD read health at seventy percent and armor at thirty. 'And to think that no less then fifteen minutes ago both were at one-hundred.'

            Shaking his head at his luck Gordon walked into the entrance and retrieved his shotgun from where it had landed. "I really ought to keep a better grip on this thing." He mumbled to himself. Mounted on the wall to his left was a large handle. Obviously only a handful of people were ever meant to be inside at once. Gordon grasped the handle with his free hand and gave it a good tug. It only screeched across the metal backing in protest. He pulled again, this time leaning away from it, letting gravity add to the forces acting on the rusted lever.

            It gave way and suddenly switched positions. Gordon fell backwards and landed on his rear as the doors leading to the chamber switched open spots. Getting up he held the S.P.A.S. tightly as he edged to the open entrance. Thumbing the double-tap switch behind the trigger, he spun on his left heel and pointed the muzzle of the gun down the hall.

            It was empty. Feeling relieved and at the same time a bit foolish for acting like he was some kind of secret agent, Gordon stepped over the door's threshold and onto the metal grating for a floor. *CLANG CLANG CL-CLANG* Jumping in surprise, he pressed his back against the outer wall and pointed his gun at the other side. The terrible noise reverberated throughout the hallway as the unknown source continued pounding on the inner wall. For the moment, Gordon was thankful the steel boundary was still strong despite the years of rust on its sides.

            Swallowing a lump of mucous in his throat he continued on. Only a few yards ahead of him, he saw the form of a fellow scientist sitting in a pool of blood against the inner wall. Gordon ran over and gasped in horror. The man was still alive, but he had a gash in his gut that went straight through. It looked like someone had stuck an axe through him.

"Jesus Christ…" Gordon said. The man looked up and with surprising strength, grabbed him by the suit's collar and pulled him closer.

"Fire the rocket engine… Destroy the damn thing before it grows any larger…" With pain induced force, the man tossed Gordon across the hall and clutched at his stomach. "STOP…" The man gave up on his struggle for life and fell silent.    

            Gordon stared at the corpse. "What the hell is in there that could do that?" The pounding on the inner wall still hadn't ceased and to his left, a top of a few stairs, another doorway stood. He wanted to tremble in fear. Obviously whatever was inside was larger than anything he had seen so far. But he remembered the promise he had made to himself, the promise that he would do whatever it takes to survive. 'And if that means firing a rocket, then I will."

            Walking over to the door, he saw another latch similar to the one that was on the entrance that lead inside. Switching it over, the door slid open to reveal the control room for this entire area. A shout erupted from Gordon's right and another scientist ran to the door on the opposite side. And then it happened.

            A gigantic green tentacle-like creature smashed through the heat-resistant glass and collided with the fleeing scientist, sending the poor guy into the computer banks on the left wall. The man looked up with an expression of fear fixated on his face. Gordon rushed forward to help. *BLAM SHUNK-CHUNK BLAM-SHUNK-CHUNK BLAM SHUNK-CHUNK BLAM SHUNK-CHUNK* His shotgun spewed buckshot.

"Nooo… no! No! Get it off of me! GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF!" The man shouted in pure terror. Gordon's shots were drawing blood but if the creature was affected by it, it didn't show. The tentacle monster picked the hapless scientist up by a suction cup like appendage under what appeared to be its head and pulled him out. Gordon bolted over to the gaping hole in the window and his jaw dropped as there was not one, but _three_ of the tentacle creatures in the blast pit.

            The one that held the still struggling scientist disappeared into a hole in the ground where the three things has apparently sprung from. A few moments later it came back up and joined its 'brothers' in banging on the walls. Gordon stared at their behavior in curiosity. 'Why are they banging on the walls?' He wondered. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw movement. Looking, he saw a security guard rush out onto a platform on the left side of the chamber above him.

"Hey! Over here! Eat lead you outer space octopus!"

            The guard then raised his sidearm and began firing at the tentacles. Gordon wanted to shout out for him to stop but his gut told him to stay silent. The guard only got off two shots before one of the tentacles rose up and impaled him upon a scythe like growth in front of its head. He screamed and shot the thing several more times before it tossed him down the pit it stemmed from.

            Poised above the tentacles in the direct center of the room, creaked the rocket engine. Looking down at the control panel for the construction, he saw that the lights on the console were all out. It seemed that in order to fire the engine, he would need to restore the power, fuel, and oxygen supply.  Gordon slowly walked out of the room through the door opposite the one he came in. He needed to find a way to the individual control rooms and that meant finding a way around the tentacles. There was a ladder leading up on the other side of the room he was currently in. The tongue of a barnacle hung down from the ceiling right by the ladder.

            Gordon raised his shotgun only to realize two things. One, the barnacle was so high up that the spread pattern of the ten gauge shells would be nearly useless. And two, he had emptied the weapon when he had fired at the creature before. He reloaded the S.P.A.S. and switched to his pistol. *POW POW POW POW* The barnacle spewed out undigested chunks of a previous meal before dying.

            He let his suit absorb his pistol and climbed up the ladder. At the top was another security guard sitting in the corner. "How'd you-" The guard cut him off by pulling down to the floor. "Be quiet! This thing hears us." He whispered to Gordon. It was then that Gordon understood how the tentacles reacted. 'Sound… they're attracted to sound.' Nodding to the guard, Gordon walked into an adjoining room that lead out to the blast pit. Inside were three crates full of dynamite and a liberal amount of grenades strewn atop them.

            'Someone must've had the idea of dropping those explosives at the base of the tentacles and then detonating them.' He thought. It wasn't a bad idea. It might've actually worked. But the rocket engine was a sure-fire way to 'KFC' those things. Gordon called out his M635 from his suit and placed his finger near the trigger. With his suit in stealth mode, the tentacles wouldn't be able to hear him walking out.

            As he stepped out, the tentacles stopped banging on their confines and sort of swayed around and started moaning. The moan's tone was in such a way that it almost seemed like a mournful song. Almost. Gordon stepped onto the first platform and looked down. 'Oh shit.' A ring of two walkways (three, counting the platform Gordon stood on) clung to the edge of the blast pit. They were connected to each other and to the floor by a ladder. And obstructing the top of the ladders were a bunch of crates. Not only that, but the doorway to each control area had been boarded up.

            There was no way around it. If he was going to go on, those obstacles needed to be removed and the way he could do that was by creating some noise. Switching the submachine gun for his grenades, he pulled the pin off and heaved it at the first stack of crates. The explosive device landed on the walkway and exploded a second later. The crates were blasted into millions of splinters though the walkway wasn't damaged all that much thanks to its construction. The tentacles however acted exactly as Gordon had figured.

            All three homed in at the source of the explosion and began furiously pounding the surrounding walkway. Gordon smirked. Strong and tough these things were, but they're dumb as a rock and easily manipulated. He withdrew another grenade and repeated the process. *BOOM* The tentacles homed in, another grenade was tossed. *BOOM* Rinse and repeat with the final barrier. *BOOM*

            With his path clear (somewhat), all Gordon had to do is hope the tentacles would be distracted long enough for him to reach the first door. Putting the grenade away he crouch-walked over to the first ladder a foot away from. Slowly, ever so slowly, he put one booted foot on a rung and then the other. His eyes never looked away from the tentacles, still banging on the ground level. Step by step, he climbed down the short ladder until his right foot touched the first walkway. He let out a breath he had been unconsciously holding.

            Crouching again, he inched towards the ladder. It was only about ten yards away. With the tentacles however, it seemed like a hundred. His breathing was slow and deep as Gordon was afraid that even doing that too hard would attracted the monsters. One foot crossed over the other as he reached the halfway point.  Two tentacles had stopped banging fruitlessly on the floor and resumed their moaning. 'Wait a second… where'd the third one go?' At that precise moment, the third tentacle rose up right in front of Gordon.

            He froze in place, his left foot suspended above his right. The pupil's of his eyes dilated as much as physically possible, taking in every detail of the monstrosity. The tentacle itself merely hovered in place and stared at Gordon. Gordon could make out two yellow eyes on either side of the creature's head. They blinked at him and the thing seemed to cock its head sideways like a puppy would at something it didn't understand.

'I don't get it… it's looking straight at me. So why doesn't it attack? Maybe it's blind or has very poor eyesight. That has to be it. Why else would it use sound to find its prey?'       

            After a few more excruciating moments of eye-to-eye contact with each other, the tentacle moved away. Gordon placed his foot down and continued onward. At last he reached the second ladder. Carefully making sure not to step on any wood fragments, he gently grasped the top rung with his hands and placed his feet on another rung. Silently climbing down, he reached the middle walkway and placed his left foot down. Turning slightly to his left, he let go of the ladder and brought his right foot forward. But it collided with his left leg's calf and he lost his balance. He flailed his arms and by instinct, brought his right foot around and down.

*KLANG*

Gordon's head snapped to his left. The three tentacles looked at him. They knew he was there.

"FUCK!!"

            The power of the built up adrenaline in his body was released and time slowed. His arms and legs were synched in movement. When the left leg went up, the left arm went down and visa-versa. The doorway drew closer. So did the tentacles. He glanced to his left. The first tentacle hit where he had struck the walkway. He was halfway there. Gordon pushed his body even harder, drawing on the adrenaline induced strength. He was almost there. The second tentacle hit the metal where he had been a split second ago. The third one was closing in fast. By running, he wouldn't make it in time.

            There was only one option. He tensed up his legs and jumped forward. The tentacle came crashing down right after. Gordon sailed through the air. The doorway was right in front of him. He put his arms up. Gordon landed and let his inertia place him into a roll. He went through the entrance and continued rolling until he hit the safety railing. Time returned to normal.

            The tentacles were pounding furiously at the walkway, still searching for Gordon. The HEV clad scientist was lying on his stomach breathing heavily. "I made it… I made it… I made it…" He said over and over, still amazed at his narrow escape from certain death.

'Focus Gordon, focus. Slow down your breathing, you don't want to hyper ventilate.' With great control he brought his breathing down to a steady rate. He started picking himself off the ground, but fell back down when his body began violently shaking. The pent up fear was overloading every nerve in his body and he couldn't control it.

"I have t-t-to stop shaking. Fire-e-e the engi-gine." Squeezing his eyes shut, Gordon concentrated on a single thought. It wasn't reaching the Lambda complex. It wasn't killing the tentacles. It wasn't even staying alive. It was the thought of being home, his old home on the east coast. He pictured the front porch, the kitchen, his bedroom. After several moments, the trembling stopped and he got up. 'Man, if I make it out of here alive, the first thing I'm doing (after two days of uninterrupted sleep) is getting a girlfriend and getting laid.'

            Taking his shotgun out, Gordon turned around and ran to other side of the hallway, still eager to put as much distance between the tentacles and him. At the end was another chamber like the one he came in. Now he understood the purpose of the design. When the engine was fired, they would lock shut and prevent any of the flames from reaching outside.

            Stepping in, he flipped the lever to the other side.

_Check out the author's note for important info._


	9. Blast Pit Pt 2

            The rusted metallic door slid open with a clang that reverberated throughout the silo area. Gordon's head popped around the open door to see what lay ahead. A metal bridge connected the rocket silo to the other side and on that side, a bullsquid spat at Gordon. Gordon pulled his head back in and switched the shotgun for his Glock. The metal and plastic handgun was gripped firmly as he leaned out the corner and fired at the bullsquid.

POW POW POW POW POW

            The bullets bored holes into the creature's body, green blood spattering on the wall behind it. The bullsquid jumped in the air out of reflex. Gordon's next shot went wild, ricocheting off the wall into a crate of dynamite that had been placed ever so close to the bullsquid.

BOOMM

            Organs from the thing sprayed everywhere. Gordon jerked his head away to avoid getting a face full of the bullsquid's thick green blood. So instead the left side of his head got hit with the stuff. Opening both eyes, he started the wipe the offending goo with his free hand. He looked back at where the creature used to be.

A large chunk of the concrete wall and floor was missing, and the rims of the craters were charred black.

            Gordon thumbed the magazine release catch and slotted in a fresh clip. Walking over the metal walkway, Gordon noticed a thick power cable strung along the side it. Logic then dictated that this was the way to the rocket power room. Hopefully it wasn't that far of a walk. The less he had to do of that, the better. Following the decaying concrete wall, Gordon delved deeper into the facility.

            Unfortunately it was a long walk with several corridors that either ended in a wall or circled around themselves. And to make matters worse, they were occupied by several packs of houndeyes. Gordon was forced to switch back over to his shotgun to dispatch them. He had just finished off his third pack of five when footsteps started to echo from back towards the entrance; heavy, booted footsteps.

"Shit."

            Leaning up against a wall, Gordon held the weapon close to his chest. The footsteps got closer and closer. Peculiar thing about them however, is that there were no others. The soldier was apparently traveling alone. Odd, but he could be some sort of special op sent after the HEV clad scientist. Gordon heard the footsteps enter the corridor beside him. He tensed up as they approached his position.

Gordon made his move.

            Wheeling around on the heel of his right foot, Gordon smashed the soldier in the chest with the butt of his weapon. He grunted and fell down, but not before pulling out his sidearm and aiming it Gordon. The scientist pointed his weapon down… and then blinked. Lying down was not a soldier but rather the security guard from above the rocket room. The guard returned Gordon's confused expression with one of his own.

"Why the hell did you hit me?"

"Thought you were a grunt." They both lowered their weapons and sighed in relief. Gordon helped the guard on his feet and picked up his helmet for him.

"Sorry."

"S'alright, I would've done the same thing." The guard put his helmet back on and readjusted his vest.

"Hey, how'd you get down here anyways?" The guard grinned and patted the grenades that hung on his belt.

"I observed your method and simply copied it. The name's Chuck, Chuck Jones." He extended his right hand. Gordon shook it.

"Gordon Freeman. I'm from Anomalous Materials Labs."

"Sector C? Man, you've come a long way with all the systems being down."

            Gordon nodded and started to walk further down the hall. Chuck followed in step, his pistol held by his left hand.

"So what are you planning to do over here?"

"Get that rocket back online and kill that tentacle thing."

"Then it's a good thing I came along. You'll need my access code to get the lift online again."

            Before anything else could be said, the sound of something small and quick splashing through liquid came from further ahead. Gordon leveled his shotgun down the concrete hall and Chuck aimed his piece. A trio of houndeyes ran came into view, chirping merrily away. It almost seemed a shame to have to kill such cute little creatures. Almost. A flurry of gunfire erupted from the barrels of a pistol and a shotgun.

            And with the pale green bodies of the houndeyes now becoming room temperature, Gordon and Chuck walked on. Around the next corner, they saw a pool of coolant forming just below a pipe near the ceiling that had ruptured.

"Come on, the elevator's just ahead."

            The two men passed through the entrance way to the power generator's elevator. Hanging from the hundred foot ceiling were several cranes used to lift heavy objects onto the elevator as well as a small bunch of barnacles. Empty metal crates dotted the floor. In the far corner a bullsquid feasted on the remains of a freshly killed scientist. To their right was a small metal platform that opened onto a vast shaft. An eerie green glow was seen coming from below.

"If we be quiet," Gordon whispered, "we can slip right by that bullsquid and not have to fire a shot." Chuck nodded in acknowledgement. Carefully stepping around the cranes, barnacle tongues, and crates, they managed to get to the lift control panel without alerting the bullsquid. Chuck set to work reactivating the lift while Gordon kept a close eye on the bullsquid.

"There, got it!" Chuck whispered. The control panel beeped in acknowledgement as the systems came back online. Yellow lights adorning the side of the shaft came on one by one as the circuit breaker for each row was activated. The hiss of power couplings reconnected was heard from above and the lift descended to their level.

"All aboard."

            The two men stepped on and Gordon hit the descend button. Gears shifted, counter weights moved, and cables slid, all to lower the lift. Gordon and Chuck breathed a sigh of relief. Gordon let his suit reabsorb the shotgun and Chuck holstered his pistol.

"Thank GOD that thing was too intent on eating to notice us." Chuck remarked, leaning against the corner of the lift.

"I'm even more relieved that it ignored this thing starting back up." Chuck nodded in agreement.

"So how far does this shaft run anyways?"

"About three hundred feet; right now we're about a third of the way down."

            Gordon was about to ask Chuck a question regarding what lied ahead when the lift came to a sudden stop.

"What happened?" He asked. Chuck walked over to the activation button and pressed it. Nothing happened.

"I don't-" He was cut off by the groaning of gears from on top of the lift.

"Ohhhh… shit."

"I knew I should've called maintenance down here last week."

The elevator groaned again and buckled under their weight. The cables wouldn't last much longer.

"Is there anyway off this thing?" Gordon frantically asked.

"No but…" Chuck's eyes locked onto a ladder that ran the entire length of the shaft. "We'll have to jump over there if we want to survive." He pointed at the ladder. Gordon didn't even waste time responding. He immediately climbed onto the railing and jumped. He slammed into the ladder and somehow managed to grab onto a rung. The elevator creaked again.

"Come on!" He yelled back at Chuck. The security guard swallowed hard and ran. Hopping onto railing, he used it as step to gain extra speed and height. He jumped just in time. The cables snapped, sending the lift down the shaft. Gordon saw one of the metal ropes coming around like a whip. Squeezing his eyes shut, he cringed on the ladder.

KRAAKKK

            The cable made a foot deep gouge in the concrete shaft and would've taken off Gordon's head had he not ducked. The wire lost its momentum and joined the lift at the bottom of the shaft. Chuck, amazingly, had survived without a scratch and let out a grunt as he impacted the ladder and grabbed hold.

"You okay Gordon?"

"I'm fine."

            The two men took a few breaths before starting the long climb down the shaft.

            Twenty minutes later Gordon hopped off the ladder and onto the solid concrete floor at the bottom. Immediately he let his arms flop by his side and sat against the wall. All four appendages felt like they were going to fall off. Chuck soon sat down beside him, feeling the same exact way.

"Man… I am NOT looking forward to the climb back up." Chuck let out between breaths. Gordon nodded in agreement and looked at the bottom of the shaft. Somehow a few of the pipes that ran down here had burst and filled the area with radioactive waste. His suit's Geiger counter was clicking away merrily at the decay rate of the isotopes.

            Chuck nudged Gordon's shoulder to get his attention. Gordon groaned in response and pain from the physical contact.

"What?"

"We're not alone."

            Gordon followed Chuck's gaze to see one his fellow scientists standing in front of the generator control panel a few yards away. Forcing his tired muscles to work, Gordon climbed back on his feet and walked over. Chuck groaned as he rose as well and walked a few steps behind the gun toting scientist. The man had heard the two men climbing down the ladder long ago and merely turned his head and nodded to them.

"Hello. I didn't expect you to be able to still move after that long climb."

"Trust me, we're surprised as well." Gordon said. Chuck kept silent.

"So tell me, what's the condition of the system?" The scientist simply motioned to the readout panel.

"Everything's shut down. I hope nobody expects me start up the generator. Smithers went down there and never came back." Gordon looked at Chuck. The security guard shook his head.

"No way in hell I'm going there. There's a hundred foot drop to the bottom of the generator pit and I'm not about to climb up the ladders to reactivate the thing."

"Then I guess it's up to me then." Gordon sighed and walked down the corridor.

            Substations, power cables and rust covered fuse boxes lined the leaking limestone walls. It was an electrician's nightmare but somehow it all still functioned perfectly. All that was needed was for 20,000 volt electric generator to be restarted. About half way down a pipe jutted out from the floor and ran along the opposite side of the power lines. Gordon's Geiger counter started acting up again

            And sure enough, around the next bend, the pipe had been breached and radioactive coolant was leaking onto the floor. Grunting, Gordon pulled himself onto the red pipe and crawled on all fours so he could avoid getting his armor charge depleted. The pool itself reeked of sludge and other waste materials. Gordon grinned to himself. The EPA would have a fit if they had the clearance to enter the facility. Then again, there'd have to be some environment around the place to speak of.

            Black Mesa was in the middle of the New Mexican desert with the nearest town a hundred miles away. The only thing environmentally wise they had to worry about was the river that ran at the base of the mesa cliffs. The thought of the refreshing liquid made Gordon's throat instantly feel parched and demand relief. With no suitable fluids anywhere near, Gordon swallowed his saliva to try and quell the feeling. It did, to a degree.

            Having finally passed the leak, Gordon slid off the pipe and resumed walking on the concrete floor. The pale yellow lights left over from the late seventies when the facility was first constructed lit his way forward. Up ahead was the entrance to the rocket generator. To its left was a security station. Gordon grinned and headed for the potential arms cache.

            The glass barrier that served as the guard on duty's view port to those that wanted to access the generator was smeared with blood. Instinctively, Gordon's thumb grazed the button on the side of his shotgun. Cautiously, he stepped up to the metal door and pushed it open. The metal hinges creaked, the sound seemingly stifled in the surrounding area. Gordon kept his index finger hovering just above the trigger, ready to blast anything that might appear.

But nothing did.

            The room inside was quiet and void of all life. Taking a relaxing breath, Gordon lowered his guard and walked in. The concrete floor had a tile like pattern to it, which seemed strange but then again, the seventies was a strange time. The backroom that connected to the booth area was in a surprisingly clean state. Unfortunately for Gordon, the place was devoid of all ammunition. He turned to leave, but his eye caught the booth door. The source of the blood wasn't resolved. Raising his shotgun once again, he prepared to open the door.

CRISH

            The aluminum door was blown apart. The zombified security guard sprang at Gordon. The scientist was knocked on his back, the shotgun flying from his hands to the far side of the room. The zombie didn't even pause in its assault. It immediately knelt down, claws extended. Baring his teeth, Gordon grabbed the zombie's arms and resisted with all his strength. The mouth that ran the length of the creature's torso snapped hungrily at Gordon. It was taking all of Gordon's strength to keep the monster from tearing his body apart.

            Gordon glanced at the shotgun. There was no way he could get to it and he couldn't keep up his struggle much longer. Turning his gaze back to the zombie, he narrowed his eyes. He had to rely on his own strength to get out of this situation. There was only one course of action possible. Gordon leaned back, letting the monster close some of the space between them. Then, it a mighty shout, Gordon summoned all the strength he could and tossed the creature off him. He didn't waste any time.

PAPAPAPAPAPAPAPAPAPAPAPA

            The entire seventeen round magazine of Gordon's Glock was emptied into the monster. The zombie fell dead, letting out only a mere gurgle in surprise. Taking several deep breaths, Gordon reloaded the handgun and retrieved his shotgun. Finally he left, leaving the cooling corpse behind and returning to his mission of reactivating the generator.

            Chuck had been right; the bottom of the generator pit was a hundred feet down. The generator itself was suspended in midair a good fifty feet above Gordon, held up by several steel support beams that jutted from the cylindrical walls. Apparently the generator produced an incredible amount of heat as the sides of the thing were completely exposed with only a thin grating acting as a barrier.

            The only way up to the generator was a ladder on the other side of the pit, accessible only by a platform that ran the around its circumference. Gordon stepped on and sent it whirling around to the other side with the press of a button. When it stopped two seconds later, Gordon was grabbing onto the platform's railing, swaying in place and blinking several times. The speed had been a little too fast for his liking.

            When his disorientation subsided, Gordon climbed up the (thankfully) short ladder to the generator's main control panel. Sitting by it was Smithers. His bald head was covered in grime and a pair of broken glasses sat in his lab coat pocket. The man turned to face Gordon.

"This is my hiding spot and I'm not moving until the situation has drastically improved. Now go away, and don't tell anyone I'm here."

"Sorry to tell you bud, but from the way things look, that's not going to happen any time soon."

"You're one of those pessimistic kinds of people, aren't you? All we have to do is wait for the military."

"They're already here but that has bad news as well."

"How?"

"They have orders to shoot anyone that's not wearing a uniform."

            At this, Smithers face paled.

"There must be some kind of mistake…"

"No mistake about it. If I could venture a guess, it'd be that the government doesn't want they story about this getting out."

            Smithers shoulders sagged and his face fell. For a moment, the only sound to be heard was the light hum of various parts of the generator that were active. Gordon crawled up beside the man and shook him slightly.

"Hey, not everything's lost. The Lambda Team has a plan to stop this invasion. And I'm heading over there, soldiers or not. There's other survivors all over the facility, banding together to survive and fight back. Granted I'm not part of any one but I've brought a few together. One way or another, we're going to beat back these aliens and show the government just what happens when they abandon their people."

            It was the biggest load of bullshit Gordon ever said. Half was made up, and the other part was just half-truths. But it was enough for Smithers to regain his spark of hope.

"You're right. We're going to survive this come Hell or high water." Smithers gave Gordon a slim smile that he returned. Gordon clapped him on the shoulder once in reassurance.

"Now if you could give me a hand turning this thing back on, I'd appreciate it." Smithers looked at Gordon curiously.

"Why do you need the generator back on-line?"

"There's these big ass tentacles blocking my way and the rocket engine is the only way past them."

            Smithers nodded and set to work on the control panel. Not much needed to be done. Only a few switches needed to be flipped but he had to replace a couple burnt out fuses. With an audible clunk, the power generator sprang to life. The turbines inside slowly whirred into action and spun merrily along. A pair of massive conduits lowered from their resting place high above the generator and automatically slid into place. And finally, the power flowed.

            "Excellent, someone has restored all power! We'll have the engine up again in no time." Chuck looked up from his position of sitting against the wall.

"Who else could it be other than Gordon?"

"Well, it could've been Smithers…"

"From the way you were talking before, you had already written that guy off as dead."

            The scientist didn't have anyway to retort Chuck's statement and merely went back to monitoring the panel readings. Chuck sighed and leaned his had against the wall. 'Some day this had turned out to be. First everything all over the facility is screwy, and then we're stuck in the middle of a God damn alien invasion.' Reaching into his back pocket of his blue jeans, Chuck pulled out his wallet and took out a photo within.

            Shown smiling on it was the figures of his five month pregnant wife and seven year old daughter.

            A lump formed in Chuck's throat as he thought, and not for the first time that day, that he would likely never see them again. All day long he had been trying to hold back the tears, but now, in a relatively safe place, he let them out. Squeezing his eyes shut, he let out heavy sobs at the notion of never being able to hold his baby child, at never meeting his daughter's first boyfriend, and at never hearing his wife's voice again.

            Putting his free right hand up, he buried his face in it and continued to weep. People always say that seeing a grown man cry was one of the worst things in the world. And people just might be right, for anything that could bring a man to cry must be a dreadful thing. And the prospect at not seeing one's family would most certainly qualify.

            Brett Johnson, the scientist, glanced over at Chuck to see what all the commotion was all about and merely had to see the photo in his left hand to understand. Brett swallowed and turned his attention back to the power console. He wouldn't understand what Chuck was going through. He had never married and was adopted. Any attempts of his to comfort the young man would be vain and hollow sounding.

            Chuck continued to cry, his sobs coming through in brief chokes. The cold, hard lump of the hand grenades pressed against Chuck's back and reminded him that there was still a way out of this nightmare. It would involve danger and the very real chance at becoming room temperature, but it was is only hope.

And with God as his witness, that hope would get Chuck through this.

            Regaining control over his emotions, Chuck slid the photo back into his wallet and then placed the faux leather object back in his rear pocket. Drawing his Glock, he ejected the magazine and checked it. The holes running along its rear were full, save for the top one, which meant that he had one 9mm bullet in the chamber. Satisfied, he slapped the mag back home and holstered the pistol.

"Feeling better?" Brett's hesitant voice came from to Chuck's right.

"Much, thanks."

            Brett nodded and leaned against the wall. The cold concrete surface was felt through the scientist's thinning gray hair. Sighing, Brett reached into his pant's pocket and pulled out a lighter and pack of cigarettes. He had been trying to kick the habit but after everything went to hell that morning, he felt the craving for a cancer stick growing by the minute.

'May as well, if these don't kill me, the aliens will.'

            Sticking one of the small, cylindrical objects in his mouth, Brett put the blue colored lighter up to its exposed end and lit it. Taking a few puffs to get the tobacco glowing, he flipped the top of the lighter back on and placed both items back in his pocket. Taking a long drag, he let his smoke slowly drift out of his nose. Brett glanced back over at Chuck.

"Want a smoke?" He offered. Chuck shook his head.

"No thanks, those things'll kill you."

Brett smirked.

"Like any of the other things running around here won't?" Now it was time for Chuck to grin.

"Touché."

            As if on cue, the sound of running footsteps came from down the hall. Without a moment's hesitation, Chuck had his handgun ready and pointed down the pathway. The footsteps got louder and louder, until two figures rounded the corner. Chuck sighed in relief and let the pistol hang by his side.

"I was wondering what took you so long."

Gordon gave Chuck an exasperated look.

"We would've been here sooner if SOMEONE hadn't made such a fuss about climbing onto a pipe." At that, Smithers groaned.

"How many times do I have to remind you? The coolant used for the generator is very corrosive. I'm still amazed that neither of us slipped and fell."

            Brett shook his head and took another puff from his cigarette. Smithers saw this and gave him a dirty look.

"Oh, and you're Mr. T all of a sudden? You're just as scared as I am. In fact, if I remember right, when the power went you screamed bloody murder when someone bumped into you." Brett's face flushed red and he simply took another drag.

"Children? Children? Could we stop bickering please?" Chuck's voice sounded. Gordon had walked past the security guard and looked back up the shaft where he had climbed down from a short while ago.

"So Chuck, how are we going to get back up? There's no way any of us could stand the climb without falling down."

Before Chuck could reply, Smithers spoke up.

"Actually I've been thinking about that and I believe I have a solution." He took one last puff of the spent cigarette before dropping it to the floor and crushing it with his shoe.

"The pulley system for the elevator is still functioning. If our blue clad colleague could deactivate the security override, we could pull some of the cable over to us and tie it around the waist of someone. After that, we simply start the lift system back up and the person attached to the cable would then be pulled up."

            Looking at the other three individuals, he waited for some kind of response. Gordon was the first with a shrug of his shoulders.

"What the hell? It's better than climbing a few hundred feet."

            Walking to the edge of the floor, Gordon took out his crowbar and cautiously put the curved end around the steel cable and pulled it towards him. Grabbing it with his left hand, he let his suit absorb the crowbar while he began to tie the wires around him.

"I'll go first. If anything goes wrong, my HEV suit would give me a better chance of surviving." Chuck took his helmet off and scratched his head.

"Are you sure Gordon? Why not let Smithers or the other guy go first?"

"They'd probably panic and piss in their pants halfway up. And you're needed down here." Gordon finished tying the cable around his waist. Brett's face turned red again while Smithers huffed and crossed his arms.

"Well, no way with arguing with that."

Taking a deep breath, Chuck started hitting the appropriate keys to retract the cable.

"When I get to the top, I'll fire off a few rounds with my pistol. That'll be your signal to stop." Chuck nodded and pressed the final key.

            Gears came back to life and the slack in the wires was taken up. Gordon began to ascend into the shaft. Taking out his Glock, Gordon let the cable do its work and simply relaxed. Closing his eyes, Gordon started to wonder on what the Lambda Complex had in mind to stop this invasion. Hopefully it involved very little danger but seeing as how the situation was, he wasn't willing to place all his cards on that.

            Silently, the HEV clad scientist rose higher and higher. The lights along the side of the tunnel illuminated his body in a yellow beam whenever he passed by them. The cable itself swayed only slightly under his weight. The cold, hard metal of the pistol's slide caught some of the light, reflecting it onto the approaching steel platform above. Gordon raised his pistol, ready just in case anything was up there waiting for him.

            And of course there was. Standing in the middle of the room was a bullsquid, the eyes set on both sides of its head blinking at the figure coming up from the depth of the pit.

POW POW POW POW POW POW POW

            The brass casing of the 9mm rounds cascaded down the shaft, the light twinkling off each one. The bullsquid didn't flinch and spat at Gordon. The man shifted his weight to the right, evading the acidic mucous. He squeezed off a few more rounds and the creature fell down dead. The gears grinded to a halt and the cable stopped moving. Putting away the handgun, Gordon began to swing back and forth on the cable, each time getting closer to the floor edge.

            After a few swings, he got close enough to grab the handrail to the lift platform. Pulling himself onto the platform, Gordon undid the twisted mass of wires around his waist and let it sway back to the middle of the pit. And he waited for the gears to start up again. But they didn't. Gordon waited several more minutes, but nothing but silence was heard.

"Hey Chuck, what's going on down there!?" Gordon shouted down to the group at the bottom of the shaft. Against the green glow of the radioactive sludge, a figure stepped into view.

"Something's gone wrong! The system won't respond to my access code!" Chuck yelled back.

"How long until you get it all cleared up again!?"

"Hard to say! Just go on without us!"

"Are you sure?!"

"Yes! We'll be fine, don't worry!"

            Swallowing uneasily, Gordon left his former companions behind.

            _If anyone's interested in contacting me, I can be found on Steam with the same handle._


	10. NOTICE NOT UPDATE

_Three... no, four years. Four long years. A lot has changed since then, I've learned just as much, about myself and the world in general. I've gone from a relatively shy home schooler to a guy about to get his degree with a good bunch of friends by his side. And my _Half-Life_ novelization... Not a week went by when I didn't think of it. And after all this time, I think I should explain its origins to you, my readers._

_I was fresh off the completion and success of my _Zelda_ fanfic, _The Destiny is Yours_. I had read S.D. Perry's so-called "novelizations" of the _Resident Evil _games (and they make me want to smack CoA for hiring her), and wanted to do one of my own. I considered doing one based on _Megaman Legends_, and of _Diablo II_. Yet, I decided to write one of _Half-Life_. I sat down at my old IBM Aptiva (with a 486DX2 75MHZ processor!) and hammered out the first chapter, transferred it via floppy to the family computer, and uploaded it. Due to a failing disk drive, I lost a good chunk of it, but the _HL_ section was small, only twenty-odd stories, most based on _Counterstrike_ (which I avoid like the plague). I uploaded the thing, figured I'd only get about two reviews over the course of a month, then drop it. My jaw hit the floor the following morning when I saw **seven** reviews, all telling me to go on._

_Life intervened two years later, in the form of college. I tried to keep going, but homework demanded my priority, and I was too spent to write afterwards, not to mention that I wanted to finish another fic of mine before it hit the two years mark (which I did). However, I did work on this from time to time, trying on several things, discarding them, and eventually finding something that worked. Then, last year, in the Fall '05 semester, I took a course on creative writing, wanting to further my fanfic writing. I was in awe of what I had learned, in terms of correct style, substance, and structure, and how I was praised by my teacher for my creativeness._

_However, it also caused me to seriously consider this novelization, and where I was taking it._

_As it is now, you, the reader, have no worries about what's going to happen. You've all played the game, so you know how it'll all turn out. I guess this is to be expected, considering the nature of the fic. However, I'm not satisfied. I knew that I had to include original material, but I didn't know about proper structure when I started. In addition, it was too Gordon centric, with no constant supporting cast. In light of this, I've only arrived at one, possible, conclusion._

_I have to start over fresh._

_All my previous chapters will be discarded. All reviews will be erased. Tabula Rasa. Clean Slate. And I will take the time to create a proper story, this time not only including Gordon, but Adrian, Barney, Gina, Colette, and a host of other characters, some original, some not, all in the supporting cast. I must take these people and breathe life into them, giving them personalities, foibles, scruples, and dreams. I must take the characters who you are so accustomed to playing as and turn them into people that will surprise you with their actions. I don't know how long it will be until I post the first chapter, but it will happen._

_Until that time, however, what currently is will remain on line, and I shall also present you with what I had in the works._

Two figures clad in urban camouflage stood on a cliff edge, overlooking the Black Mesa valley. One of them, a man in a green beret, and with a thick, brown mustache, raised a camera to his eyes. The last glimmers of sunlight painted the far horizon a fantastic collage of pink, blue, and purple with wisps of white clouds thrown into the mix. Stars from above twinkled, their numbers far greater than one would imagine. The desert valley turned a deep shade of read in the fading light.

The camera clicked.

"Now that's a nice picture," the mustached man said, lowering his arms.

"A little memento for your kids?" his companion asked.

"You know, we're in the field. You're supposed to address me as 'sir'."

"Ah, stuff it, Jim. We were in the same class and graduated the same day. You just happened to climb the ladder faster than me.

Captain James Mason smirked, and turned his gaze back over the valley.

"It's strange, Steven. The view makes you forget that the research facility has been overtaken by domestic terrorists."

Master Sergeant Steven Cooper crossed his arms and nodded.

"Sure does."

The two stood there a few moments more and admired the view. Then, they turned around and followed their self-made trail back to the camp.

On the edge of the Black Mesa Research Facility, the US Marine Corps had established a firebase for their assault on the compound. Automated turrets hooked up to power generators kept a constant vigil for any intruders. Prefabricated barriers topped with barbwire encircled the base. Patrols consisting of Humvees and Apache AH-64 helicoptors constantly circled the perimeter. Inside the makeshift compound, there was an almost constant bustle of activity as soldiers returned from expeditions inside the research facility to a hot meal as others piled into transports for another incursion. There were a lucky few who had the time to break outa deck of cards and play a game of poker.

Mason and Cooper walked through the front gate, the guards on duty snapping to attention and saluting the captain as he passed. He returned the salute without missing a step. Cooper stayed two paces behind Mason, their feet in perfect synchronization. Their destination was a helipad on the other side of the camp where the operation's commanding officer was schedualed to arrive at any moment. It wasn't Mason's duty to greet the man, but, out of the present officers, he held seniority.

Mason had heard a great deal about their CO, all of it good. He had first cut his teeth in the Veitnam War, where he proved to be an extremely effective squad leader and officer. After the US withdrew, he had climbed the chain of command rather quickly, coming to his current rank and grade.

Just as Mason and Cooper arrived at the helipad, they heard the CO's escort rapidly approaching.

Rising over a nearby mesa was a squad of five Apaches, four encircling one. They made a beeline for the firebase, the lead chopper verifying his ward's clearance to land. Taking up position around the base, the four escort Apaches while the fifth one landed. The blade's backwash created a whirlwind of sand and dirt, nearly blinding Mason and Cooper. The side door of the Apache slid open and a grizzled old man stepped out.

The man had a pin of a gold eagle with iuts wings spread on both shoulders, signifying his grade as Lieutenant Colonel. His fatigues were well worn, his boots creased and scuffed, as his face. Yet, the man's eyes were clear, and seemed as if they could bore holes through diamonds. His posture was rigid, one that had been adopted over many years of personal discipline and training. Mason and Cooper snapped to attention, their hands coming up to their brows in a salute.

"Colonel Cumberland, Captain James Mason reporting as senior officer.

The colonel gave the two men a sharp salute.

"Where is Major Coomer?"

"The major is currently engaged in the field, sir."

All three soldiers dropped their hands, Cooper and Mason remaining at attention. Cumberland briefly looked over the two men before heading towards the command tent. Cooper and Mason quickly fell into step behind him.

"Captain, are you aware of the current tactical situation?"

"Yes, sir. The surface is secure, as well as all topside buildings and the facilities PA system. Teams are being sent in via the materials transport rail system. However, the Gamma and Lambda labs are apparently operating under their own security system. We're currently trying to figure out how to bypass them."

"And what about Gordon Freeman?"

"He's retreated into the facility, sir. He was able to fight his way past several squads."

"How many casualtiues did he cause?"

"Every soldier he came across he killed, except for one."

What sounded like a low chuckle rumbled from Cumberland's throat.

"So he's decided to fight back, hm?"

Mason didn't respond. The walked continued in silence. They rapidly appraoched the command tent. A corporal standing just inside noticed Cumberland, Mason, and Cooper walking up.

"Room, attention!" he yelled out.

The ten men within the tent instantly shot up, bodies turning towards the entrance, arms held rigidly by their sides. Cumberland stepped in and quickly glanced around the room.

"Carry on," he said. The soldiers returned to what they had been doing. Slowly, Cumberland cicrled the room, hands clasped behind his back, each footstep methodically placed. For some reason, Mason and Cooper remained spellbound to their places by the entrance. A cold pit formed in Mason's stomach. The more he looked at his commanding officer, the more it grew. However, there didn't appear to be any reason for it. Colonel Cumberland's looks were grandfatherly, and he commanded no more respect than any other high ranking officer. Mason wrote his feel off as groundless.

Behind him came the sound of running boots. Looking over his shoulder, Mason saw a corporal with a clipboard heading towards the command tent. The corporal ran right by Mason and Cooper.

"Colonel Cumberland?" the man called out. The colonel halted and walked straight towards him.

"Yes, corporal?"

"Reports from the field," the soldier started, looking down at the clipboard. "We've received a communique from a Private Tower that several members of the Hazardous Enviroment Combat Unit have survived." This peaked Cumberland's interest. There was one soldier in that outfit that had caught his eye as a true leader.

"Is Corporal Adrian Shepard among the survivors?"

"Private Tower claims that he saw his squad's corpsman carrying away the body of Corporal Shepard. No confirmation on the state he was in."

"I see. Anything else?"

"Er, yes, sir. We've been contacted by a member of the Black Mesa Science Team. He wishes to request an extraction squad."

Colonel Cumberland snorted in amusement.

"We don't cater to terrorists."

The colonel started to walk away, but the corporal continued.

"He said he could give us Gordon Freeman, sir."

Cumberland halted. Slowly, he turned around, a grin on his face.

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's get this fine patriot out."


End file.
